[1] The lottery tickets were included only by a divided court
(_Lottery Cases_, 188 U.S. 321) four judges emphatically dissenting.
The moral issue doubtless influenced a decision so difficult to
reconcile with other opinions of the court, which otherwise had held
regularly that commerce involves the physical movement of persons or
things and does not include the contractual relations between
citizens incident to commercial intercourse. Not all things
incidental to commerce are included in it, and it has been held that
the following are not included: bills of exchange (in 1850, _Nathan_
v. _Louisiana_, 8 _How._ 73), trade marks (in 1879, _trade mark
cases_, 100 _U.S._ 82), insurance (in 1869, _Paul_ v. _Virginia_, 8
_Wall._ 168), and manufacturing (in 1895, _U.S._ v. _Knight Co._, 156
_U.S._ 1). In the last-named case, which concerned a combination of
sugar refineries controlling a large proportion of the product of the
country, it was said that commerce succeeds manufacture and is not a
part of it. The relation of the manufacturer to interstate and
foreign commerce being thus only incidental and indirect, the
business is subject to state control. By a series of decisions the
transportation of persons has been decided to be commerce. (In 1848,
_passenger cases_, 7 _How._ 283. In 1867, _Crandall_ v. _Nevada_ 6,
_Wall._ 35. In 1875, _Henderson_ v. the _Mayor of New York_, _92
U.S._ 259, &c.).
[2] The question arose with reference to the police power of the
state in those states prohibiting the liquor traffic, and in 1889 it
was held (Leisy _v._ Hardin) that, in the absence of legislation by
Congress, the right to sell goods taken into a state was
unrestricted. This made it impossible for a state to exclude the
importation of liquors to be sold within its territory, but this
difficulty was remedied by the Wilson Original Package Bill of 1890,
which made liquor subject to the police powers of the state to which
it was carried.
[3] However, a very important distinction is drawn between taxing the
commerce and taxing property employed in commerce. With the increase
of interstate commerce, the states have been hard pushed to find
sources of revenue adequate to their increasing needs. The courts,
therefore, have sought to draw a line between taxes on the privilege
of carrying on interstate commerce and taxes on the property employed
in carrying on such commerce as a part of the general body of
property in the state. Thus it has been held in the case of _State
Freight Tax_ (1872, 15 _Wall._ 232) that a state could not lay a tax
on freight transported from one state to another, and yet the same
year the court held in _State Tax on Gross Receipts_ (15 _Wall._ 284)
that a tax was valid when laid upon the receipts of railways
organized under the laws of the state, as upon a fund which had
become incorporated with the general mass of property. This latter
decision was by a divided court (three of the nine judges
dissenting), but it has since been frequently confirmed. The tax on
gross receipts of all railway companies doing business in the state
has been supported when levied in proportion to the mileage within as
compared with the total within and without the state (_Erie Ry._ v.
_Pa._, 21 _Wall._ 492). This so-called "unit rule," as applied either
to gross receipts or to the entire value of an interstate railway,
has been upheld in a number of decisions. The method of taxation by
gross receipts, however, has not tended to increase of late, but the
unit rule, as applied to _ad valorem_ taxes on property, is more and
more being applied. Every case involving the distinction between a
tax on commerce and a tax on property employed in commerce presents
its own difficulties, yet a practical way is thus found to prevent
discriminating action by the several states, while leaving to them
adequate sources of revenue.
[4] 1873, _State Freight Tax_, 15 _Wall._ 232; 1887, _Robbins_ v.
_Shelby County Taxing District_, 120 _U.S._ 489; _Wabash R. R.
Company_ v. _Illinois_, 118 _U.S._ 557. The last-named case arose out
of the attempts of the state of Illinois to prevent discrimination
between two shippers, both being its own citizens and within its own
borders, one of whom was being charged more than the other for a
shorter shipment on the same line and in the same direction, from a
point outside the state. The court, applying the established
definition of interstate commerce with verbal formality of logic,
decided that the state could do nothing, for even in such a case all
regulation of interstate commerce, from the beginning to the end of a
shipment, was confided to Congress exclusively. Thus a clause whose
clear purpose was to prevent one state from burdening unequally the
citizens of other states was successfully invoked by a private
corporation to forbid the state securing equality of treatment for
its own citizens as regards such parts of shipments as lay within its
own borders. Most railway traffic was by this decision declared to be
subject to legislation by Congress but Congress had not acted. The
impossibility of this situation was so evident that the Interstate
Commerce Act, long under discussion, became a law a few months later.
[5] This was probably aimed at the discriminating between New York
and Philadelphia (see speech of Charles Sumner on the railroad
usurpation of New Jersey in U.S. Senate, February 14, 1865).
[6] In the Northern Securities case, Justice Brewer, who had
concurred in the opinion in the Trans-Missouri Freight Association
case, took occasion to say that while he still believed the former
case had been correctly decided, he thought that the reasons given
for the judgment were in some respects faulty, and that the ruling
should have been that the contracts there considered were
unreasonable restraints and as such were forbidden by the act.
INTERVAL, a space left between the component parts of a continuous
series, a pause in continuous action, a period of time intervening
between two other points of time or chronological sequence of events.
The Lat. _intervallum_, from which the English word has come through the
French, originally meant a space between the palisades on a rampart
(_vallum_), or between the rampart and the tents of the legionaries. In
medical language "interval" is used of the intervening periods between
attacks or paroxysms of a disease, particularly of the periods of a
rational or normal condition of mind sometimes experienced by an insane
person, a "lucid interval"; this phrase frequently occurs in legal
documents from the 13th to the 15th centuries, _non compos mentis sed
gaudet lucidis intervallis_. In music "interval" expresses the distance
in pitch between two or more musical sounds (see MUSIC). Interval, or
more commonly "intervale," is used, particularly in North America, as a
geographical term for a low-lying tract of land along the banks of
rivers, frequently overflowed by freshets, or more loosely for any low
level land shut in by hills. This particular application, as also the
form "intervale," is due to a confusion of the termination of the word
with "vale," valley.
INTESTACY (Lat. _intestatus_, one who has not made a will, from testari,
to bear witness), the condition of the property of a person who dies
without making a will. Here the law of England distinguishes sharply
between his real and his personal property. The devolution of the former
is regulated by the rules of inheritance (q.v.). The destination of the
latter is marked out by the Statute of Distributions. The proper
conditions of a testamentary disposition of property will be found under
the heading Will.
The distribution of an intestate's personal property is carried out
under the authority of administrators, whose duties are generally the
same as those of executors under a will. Administration was until 1857 a
matter cognizable by the ecclesiastical courts, and the ordinary was in
fact the administrator until the passing of an act of Edward III. for
administration upon intestacy (1357). An earlier statute (Westminster 2,
1275), directed against the abuses of the system, required the ordinary,
instead of applying the residue of the estate to "pious uses," to pay
the debts of the intestate. The act of Edward III. went further in
providing that "in case where a man dieth intestate, the ordinaries
shall depute of the next and most lawful friends of the dead person
intestate to administer his goods," with power to sue for debts due to
the deceased, and under obligation to pay debts due by him, and to
answer to the ordinary like executors in the case of testament.
Administrators remained on this footing of deputies appointed by the
ordinary until the Probate Act 1857 transferred the jurisdiction in
administration of the ecclesiastical courts to the new court of probate.
The courts of law having held that by the grant of administration the
authority of the ecclesiastical courts was exhausted, the administrator
became entitled to the privilege, similar to that formerly enjoyed by
the ordinary, of dealing as he pleased with residue of the property. The
next of kin of the same degree of relationship to the deceased were thus
aggrieved by the preference of the administrator, and it was to remedy
this grievance that the Statute of Distributions 1670/1 was passed. It
empowered the ordinary to take a bond from the administrator binding him
to make a fair and complete distribution of the property among the next
of kin. Such distribution is to be in the following manner: one-third to
the wife of the intestate, and all the residue by equal portions to and
amongst the children, and their representatives if any of such children
be dead, exclusive of children who shall have any estate by the
settlement of the intestate, or shall be advanced by the intestate in
his lifetime by portions equal to the shares allotted to the other
children under the distribution. If such advancement should be less than
the share of the other children in distribution, then it shall be made
equal thereto. But the "heir-at-law, notwithstanding any land that he
shall have by descent or otherwise from the intestate, is to have an
equal part in distribution with the rest of the children" (S 5). By S 6,
if there be no children nor any legal representatives of children, one
moiety of the property is to be allotted to the wife of the intestate,
the residue "to be distributed equally to any of the next of kindred of
the intestate who are equal in degree and those who legally represent
them." By S 7 there shall "be no representation admitted among
collaterals after brothers' and sisters' children; and in case there be
no wife, then all the said estate to be distributed equally to and among
the children; and in case there be no child, then to the next of kindred
in equal degree of or unto the intestate and their legal representatives
as aforesaid, and in no other manner whatsoever." For the protection of
creditors it is enacted that there shall be no distribution till a full
year after the intestate's death, and if any debts should be discovered
after distribution, the persons sharing the estate shall refund the
amount of the same ratably. With reference to the above rules the
following points may be observed: (1) The husband's absolute right to
administer his wife's estate is not affected by the act. This was made
clear by a later act of the same reign. (The Statute of Frauds 1677).
Administration is now granted to the representatives of the husband
where he has died without taking out administration to his wife, unless
it can be shown that the wife's next of kin are beneficially interested.
(2) The widow, in the event of there being no children or next of kin,
takes only her half. The other half goes to the crown. The widow's
rights, however, have been enlarged by the Intestate Estates Act 1890.
By this act where a man dies wholly intestate and without issue, his
property, both real and personal, shall, if it does not exceed L500 in
net value, belong to his widow absolutely. If the estate exceeds L500
net, the widow is entitled to L500 out of the estate and has a charge
for that amount upon the real and personal property of the deceased. (3)
The child or children take equally, two-thirds if the widow be alive,
and the whole if she be dead. If some of the children be alive and some
dead having issue, then such issue will take their parents' share
equally among themselves. There has been some difference of opinion as
to whether if all the children have predeceased their parent but have
left issue, such grandchildren take as between themselves _per stirpes_
as representatives of their parent or _per capita_ as next of kin. Thus
if A and B predecease their father but A leaves three children and B
one, should the property be divided into fourths, or first into moieties
and then one moiety subdivided into thirds among A's children and the
other moiety be given undivided to B's child? It is now settled that the
latter method of distribution is the correct one, and it is thought that
this will also apply when only great-grandchildren are alive. (4) The
next of kin must be ascertained according to the rules of consanguinity,
which are the same in English as in the civil law. Degree is calculated
from the intestate, through the common ancestor if any, to the kindred.
Thus from son to father is one degree, to grandfather two degrees, to
brother two degrees, to uncle three degrees, and so on. The statute
ordains distribution to be made "to the next of kindred in equal degrees
_pro suo cuique jure_, according to the laws in such cases and the rules
and limitations hereafter set down." Equality in degree is therefore not
in all cases accompanied by equality in rights of succession. Neglecting
the cases of wife and children already noticed, the father excludes all
other next of kin. So would a mother, in default of a father surviving,
but an act of 1685 enacted that in such a case the brothers and sisters,
and children of brothers and sisters, of the intestate should share
equally with the mother. In the absence of brothers or sisters and their
representatives, the mother in the case supposed would take the whole.
Mothers-in-law and stepmothers are not within the rules of
consanguinity. As between a brother and a grandfather who are both in
the second degree, preference is given to the brother; but a
grandfather, being in the second degree, will exclude an uncle, who is
in the third. An uncle and a nephew, both being in the third degree,
take together. Brothers or sisters of the half blood take equally with
brothers and sisters of the whole blood. The rule which prohibits
representation after brothers' and sisters' children would, in a case
where the next of kin were uncles or nephews, wholly exclude the
children of a deceased uncle or nephew. Also, as between the son of a
brother and the grandson of a brother, the latter would not be admitted
by representation. Where a brother and the children of a deceased
brother are the next of kin, they will take _per stirpes_, i.e. the
brother will take one half, and the children of the other brother will
take the other half between them. When the next of kin are all children
of the deceased brothers or sisters, they will take equally _per
capita_. Subject to these modifications, the personal property will be
divided equally among the next of kin of equal degree, e.g.
great-grandfathers would share with uncles or aunts, as being in the
third degree. Failing next of kin, under these rules, the estate goes to
the crown as _ultimus haeres_, a result which is more likely to happen
in the case of illegitimate persons than in any other.
Personal or movable property takes its legal character from the domicile
of the owner, and the distribution of an intestate's goods is therefore
regulated by the law of the country in which the intestate was
domiciled. A domiciled Scotsman, for example, dies intestate in England,
leaving personal property in England; the administrator appointed by the
court of probate will be bound to distribute the property according to
the Scots rules of succession.
In the law of Scotland the free movable estate of the intestate is
divided amongst the nearest of kin, the full blood excluding the half
blood, and neither mother nor maternal relations being originally
admitted. The heir of the heritable (i.e. real) property if one of the
next of kin must collate with the next of kin if he wishes to share in
the movables. Proximity of kin is reckoned in the same order as in the
case of inheritance. The Intestate Movable Succession Act 1855 among
other changes allows the issue of a predeceasing next of kin to come
in the place of their parent in succession to an intestate, gives the
father of an intestate dying without issue one-half of the movable
property in preference to brothers and sisters, and to the mother if
the father be dead a similar preference to the extent of one-third,
and admits brothers and sisters uterine in the absence of brothers and
sisters german or consanguinean.
In the United States the English Statute of Distribution has been taken
as the basis of the law for the distribution of personal property in
intestacy, and its principles have been applied to real property also.
"In a majority of the states the descent of real and personal property
is to the same persons and in the same proportions, and the regulation
is the same in substance as the English Statute of Distribution. In
Georgia the real and personal property of the intestate is considered as
altogether of the same nature and upon the same footing." There are many
states, however, in which the distribution differs materially from the
English statute. In Illinois the distribution is the same as descent of
real property. In Alabama the whole goes to the widow if there are no
children (_Phillips_ v. _Lawing_, 1907, 43 Southern Rep. 494). In many
states the husband's share is in all cases like the widow's, as in
Texas, New York and Washington. In Pennsylvania he takes an equal share
with the children.
The statutes of each state of the American union must be consulted, as
no general rules can be laid down. As to the right to the intestate's
interest in community property in the states where the law of
"community"--of "acquets and gains"--prevails, see INHERITANCE.
INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION (_Ilius_), in surgery, a condition in which the
onward passage of the faeces is prevented. It is often associated with
phenomena due to strangulation of the gut, leading to gangrene, and with
systemic poisoning due to the absorption of toxins, resulting from the
decomposition of the retained faeces. Intestinal obstruction may be
conveniently divided into acute and chronic.
_Acute Intestinal Obstruction_ forms one of the most urgent of surgical
emergencies. The following are its chief causes: (1) strangulation by
bands or adhesions or through apertures; (2) volvulus; (3) the impaction
of foreign bodies; (4) acute intussusception; (5) strangulation over a
band or acute kinking of the gut; (6) the termination supervening on
chronic obstruction; (7) congenital malformations of the intestines.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Diagram to show how Strangulation by a Band may
take place.]
_Strangulation by Bands or Adhesions or through Apertures._--These
terms are applied to obstruction by constricting bands within the
abdomen. These may be the result of the stretching of old inflammatory
adhesions, the result of former peritonitis. These bands are commonly
situated between different parts of the mesentery or between the
mesentery and another organ such as the appendix. Two methods of
producing strangulation exist; in the first the bowel passes under an
arch or loop formed by some short constricting band and cannot return,
or if the band is long it may form a noose in which the bowel is
strangled (fig. 1); in the second the remains of a foetal structure
(Meckel's diverticulum) becoming adherent to some other organ may
ensnare the intestine in the loop. A coil of intestine may also slip
into a hole in the mesentery or omentum or find its way into a pouch
of peritoneum, forming what is known as an internal hernia. The onset
of symptoms is sudden and abrupt. The patient is seized with acute
abdominal pain associated with collapse. The pain is usually referred
to the region of the umbilicus; this localization, however, is no
guide to the situation of the lesion. Vomiting is early and
persistent, generally assuming a faecal character between the second
and the ninth day. There is no obvious tumour; constipation is
present, the abdominal walls are flaccid at first, but if no relief is
obtained become tender when peritonitis ensues. This form of
obstruction is most frequent in young people, and there is usually a
history of previous peritonitis. In cases not treated by operation the
average duration is five to seven days, and death takes place from
exhaustion or from toxaemia following peritonitis.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Diagram to show how Volvulus may take place.]
_Volvulus_ means a torsion or twisting of the gut. There are two chief
varieties: (1) in which the bowel is twisted upon its mesenteric axis
(fig. 2); (2) in which it is wound round another coil of intestine.
The sigmoid flexure is the situation in which volvulus most commonly
takes place, but it may occur in the caecum and small intestine. When
once present, plastic peritonitis fixes the coil in position and the
blood supply becomes obstructed. Volvulus is generally preceded by a
history of chronic constipation. The acute symptoms start abruptly and
are similar to those of internal strangulation, but the pain at first
is more intermittent in type. There is usually early tenderness over
the spot and constipation is absolute. Much distress is occasioned by
abdominal distension from flatus, which develops with remarkable
rapidity. The swelling is localized at first. Spontaneous natural cure
is unknown, and without surgical interference death is inevitable.
_Impacted Foreign Bodies._--Gall-stones may cause obstruction when
they are of large size. These gall-stones when lodged in the intestine
may there be enlarged by subsequent accretion. Leichenstern describes
such a stone with a circumference of 5 in., and Sir F. Treves removed
from the intestine of an old lady a calculus, the large size of which
was due to layers of magnesia, the patient having taken carbonate of
magnesia daily for many years. Gall-stones may give rise to
intermittent sub-acute attacks of incomplete obstruction and finally
give rise to an acute attack accompanied by severe pain and vomiting,
which is constant and early becomes faecal. The abdomen is soft and
flaccid and the affected coil is rarely to be felt. The symptoms vary
with the situation of the obstruction and are generally more urgent
the nearer to the duodenum. Foreign bodies that have been swallowed by
accident or otherwise may give rise to obstruction, though
extraordinary objects, as knives, coins, pipes, flints, &c. swallowed
by jugglers, are known to have passed by rectum without injury. In
cases where the foreign body lodges in the intestine the caecum and
duodenum are favourite situations for obstruction. In the museum of
the Royal College of Surgeons is a specimen in which the duodenum is
blocked by a mass of pins weighing nearly a pound. Foreign bodies may
remain weeks or months in situ before giving rise to serious symptoms,
the progress of the larger substances being marked by temporary
obstruction. In a case quoted by Duchaussoy the obstructing mass
consisted of over 700 cherry stones. The diagnosis of obstruction by
foreign bodies has been much simplified since the introduction of the
X-rays. Enteroliths may themselves cause obstruction. They may consist
of masses of indigestible vegetable material matted together with
faeces and mucous. In Scotland they are frequently found to consist of
husks of coarse oatmeal (aenoliths). In thin persons large enteroliths
and foreign bodies may be palpable. The symptoms are those similar to
obstruction by a large gall-stone.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Diagram to show how an Intussusception takes
place.]
_Acute Intussusception_ forms about 30% of all cases of intestinal
obstruction, and is the most common variety found in children. More
than 50% of the cases are found during the first ten years of life,
and half that amount in babies under one year; the large preponderance
is in males. By intussusception is meant an invagination or protrusion
of a part of the intestine in the lumen of the intestine immediately
below it; the lower part of the intestine may be said to have
swallowed that immediately above it. The mesentery attached to the
upper portion is necessarily dragged in with it. The condition may be
seen by referring to the diagram (fig. 3). The invaginated portion is
termed the _intussusceptum_, and the lower portion which it enters is
known as the _intussuscipiens_. It is to the constriction of the
vessels in the entering mesentery and later to their possible complete
obstruction that are due the late serious phenomena of
intussusception, e.g. gangrene or rupture of the gut. Peritonitis also
ensues, and by the formation of adhesions between the serous coats of
the entering and returning parts leads to irreducibility of the
intussusception. A cure occasionally ensues from spontaneous reduction
of the invagination, or again permanent stenosis of the intestine may
result from the adhesion of the opposed surfaces, or the occurrence of
gangrene may lead to perforation of the intestine with acute septic
peritonitis. Occasionally when there is no perforation adherence takes
place between the segments, and the gangrenous portion sloughs off and
is discharged by the rectum. The cause of intussusception is said to
be violent peristaltic action, however produced. Polypoid tumours or
masses of worms, or masses of irritating ingesta, are said to lead to
its occurrence. X. Dolore and R. Leriche contend that the primary
factor is congenital mobility of the caecum. They state that in 48% of
foeti the caecum is mobile in half, fixation gradually going on; while
in 8.5% of adults it retains its mobility. They thus endeavour to
account for the fact that in 300 collected cases 204 occurred in
children less than one year old. Intussusception is met with in four
chief situations: (a) the ileo-caecal, which is said to be the most
frequent, constituting 44% of all cases (Treves); (b) the enteric
variety, involving the small intestine; (c) the colic form; (d) the
ileo-colic, the ileum being invaginated through the ileo-caecal valve.
Intussusception may be acute or chronic, sometimes lasting
intermittently for years. The acute form is the most common. In young
children an attack occurs with severe pain, at first paroxysmal but
later continuous; vomiting is less early and less continuous than in
strangulation by bands, and diarrhoea tenesmus, much straining and the
passage of blood mucus from the anus are common. Collapse soon
supervenes. Early in the case the abdomen is but little distended, and
in about half the cases a distinct tumour can be felt. In some cases
the invaginated gut may be felt protruding through the sphincter.
Chronic intussusception occurs more frequently in adults than in
children; the symptoms may resemble chronic enteritis and be so masked
that the nature of the illness remains undiagnosed until an acute
attack supervenes, or the patient succumbs to the diarrhoea, vomiting
and haemorrhage.
_Congenital Malformations of the Intestines._--Cases have been
recorded in which the small intestine ended in a blind pouch.
Imperforate anus is a fairly frequent occurrence in young infants, but
attention is usually called to the condition. Partial strictures of
the intestine, if the stricture be not too narrow, may pass unnoticed
for years, and final complete obstruction may result from a blockage
of the stricture by some foreign substance such as a plug of hard
faecal matter or a fruit stone.
_Treatment of Acute Intestinal Obstruction._--Early diagnosis and
early laparotomy are essential, and it is important to operate before
the patient is poisoned by the absorption of toxins from the bowel. To
administer purgatives is worse than useless. Of massage and abdominal
taxis Sir F. Treves says: "These are to be condemned, as they may
rupture the already moribund bowel and make effective a threatened
perforation. These measures are for the most part feeble excuses for
avoiding or delaying the operation." The operation may be undertaken
in one or two stages, and includes the opening and evacuation of the
distended intestines and the search for and reduction or removal of
the obstruction.
_Chronic Intestinal Obstruction._--The causes of chronic obstruction are
very numerous, and may be divided into the following groups: (1)
intra-intestinal conditions, i.e. the impaction of foreign bodies and
impaction of faeces; (2) affections of the intestinal wall such as
stricture, new growths in the intestine, particularly those of a
malignant type, adhesions or matting together of the intestines from
peritonitis or kinking of the gut from disease of the mesenteric glands;
(3) chronic intussusception; (4) compression of the bowel by a tumour or
bands developing outside the intestine. Of these the commonest are
malignant growths and faecal impaction.
The general symptoms of chronic obstruction are more or less alike. The
patient is attacked with gradually increasing constipation, which may
alternate with diarrhoea which is generally set up by the irritation of
the retained faeces. In obstruction due to malignant growths the
character of the motions is changed, they become scybalous, pipe-like or
flattened. The abdomen becomes distended, and at intervals severe
symptoms may supervene, consisting of pain and vomiting with complete
constipation owing to some temporary complete obstruction. The attacks
usually pass off, and relief may be obtained naturally or by the
administration of a purgative, but they have a tendency to recur and in
malignant disease to increase to complete obstruction. Finally a seizure
may persist and take on all the characters of an acute attack, and death
may supervene from exhaustion, perforation or peritonitis, unless
immediately treated. When it arises from simple stricture no tumour is
to be felt, but in malignant disease the tumour may be frequently
palpated, unless during an acute attack when the abdomen is much
distended with gas.
_Faecal Impaction_ is not uncommon in adult females who have suffered
from chronic constipation. The common seat of the blockage is in the
colon, chiefly in the sigmoid flexure and in the rectum, but it may
occur in the caecum. The accumulation may form a doughy tumour which
in parts may be nodular and intensely hard. The causes are due to the
state of the contents of the bowel itself, to congenital or acquired
weakness and diminished expulsive power of the bowel, or to painful
affections of the anus, fissures, piles and painful bladder
affections. The acute symptoms are always preceded by a prolonged
period of malaise; the breath is offensive and the tongue foul, and
the temperature may be raised from the absorption of toxins. Faecal
impaction requires the regular and repeated administration of large
enemata, given through a long tube, together with the administration
of calomel and belladonna. Large impacted masses in the rectum may be
broken up and removed by a scoop.
_Strictures of the Intestinal Wall._--Simple strictures are
infrequent, and are dealt with by the operation of lateral
anastomosis. They follow dysenteric or tuberculous ulceration or the
passage of gall-stones. Stricture due to carcinoma of the intestinal
wall occurs usually in the old or middle-aged, and the symptoms come
on insidiously. As soon as the condition is diagnosed an attempt
should be made to remove the tumour if freely movable, or if this is
not possible to afford relief by short-circuiting the intestine or by
colotomy.
_Chronic Intussusception_ has been frequently mistaken in the
diagnosis for rectal polypus, cancer, tuberculous peritonitis, &c.
(Treves). If diagnosed it may be reduced by inflation with air, but
frequently too many adhesions are present for this to be possible, and
laparotomy with excision of the mass should be undertaken; the results
are said to be very encouraging.
Compression of the bowel due to a tumour or bands external to the
bowel may occasionally give rise to obstruction. An exploratory
operation should be undertaken for the excision of the tumour, or the
separation of adhesions and release of the bowel, or if the intestines
are much matted together by peritonitis an intestinal anastomosis may
give relief. Obstruction due to paralysis of the muscular coat of the
intestine has been described (adynamic obstruction), but its existence
is a subject of dispute. (H. L. H.)
INTESTINE (Lat. _intestinus_, internal, usually in neuter plural
_intestina_, from _intus_, within), in anatomy, the lower part of the
alimentary canal; in man and mammals divided into the smaller
intestine, from the pylorus to the iliocaecal valve, and the larger,
reaching from the caecum and colon to the end of the rectum. The word is
frequently applied to the whole of the alimentary canal in
invertebrates. (See ALIMENTARY CANAL.)
INTOXICATION (Lat. _toxicare_, _intoxicare_, to smear with poison,
_toxicum_, an adaptation of Gr. [Greek: toxikon], sc. [Greek:
pharmakon], a poison smeared on arrows; [Greek: toxon], bow), poisoning,
or the action of poisons, whether of drugs, bacterial products, or other
toxic substances, and hence the condition resulting from such poisoning,
particularly the disorder of the nervous system produced by excessive
drinking of alcohol (see INEBRIETY and DRUNKENNESS).
INTRA, a town of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of Novara, on the W.
shore of Lake Maggiore, 685 ft. above sea-level, 12 m. N. of Arona by
steamer. Pop. (1901) 6924. It is situated between two torrents, which
afford water-power for cotton and silk mills, hat factories, foundries,
&c.; these chiefly belong to Swiss proprietors, who have fine villas
with beautiful gardens. The church is a large edifice of 1708-1751.
INTRADOS (a French term, Lat. _intra_, within, Fr. _dos_, back), in
architecture, the under-curved surface or soffit of an arch (q.v.).
INTRANSIGENT (adopted from the Fr. _intransigeant_, taken, through the
Spanish _intransigente_, from the Lat. _in_, not, and _transigere_, to
come to an understanding), one whose attitude is that of an
irreconcilable. The term is used chiefly of politicians of an advanced
type; those in complete antagonism to the existing form of government;
but is especially applied on the continent of Europe to members of
legislatures holding extreme Radical views. In this sense the word was
first used in the political troubles which arose in Spain in the years
1873-1874. Intransigentism implies an attitude of uncompromising
disagreement with political opponents. The word is also used
non-politically, in the sense of intractability and intolerance.
INTRINSIC (through Fr. _intrinsique_, from Lat. _intrinsecus_, inwardly;
_inter_, within, _secus_, following, from root of _sequi_, to follow),
an adjective originally applied to something internal or inside another,
but now ordinarily used to express a quality inherent in or inseparable
from a person, thing or abstract conception. In anatomy the term is,
however, still used of a muscle which has both its origin and insertion
in the organ in which it is found.
INTROSPECTION (from Lat. _introspicere_, to look within), in psychology,
the process of examining the operations of one's own mind with a view to
discovering the laws which govern psychic processes. The introspective
method has been adopted by psychologists from the earliest times, more
especially by Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and English psychologists
of the earlier school. It possesses the advantage that the individual
has fuller knowledge of his own mind than that of any other person, and
is able therefore to observe its action more accurately under systematic
tests. On the other hand it has the obvious weakness that in the total
content of the psychic state under examination there must be taken into
account the consciousness that the test is in progress. This
consciousness necessarily arouses the attention, and may divert it to
such an extent that the test as such has little value. Such
psychological problems as those connected with the emotions and their
physical concomitants are especially defective in the introspective
method; the fact that one is looking forward to a shock prepared in
advance constitutes at once an abnormal psychic state, just as a nervous
person's heart will beat faster when awaiting a doctor's diagnosis. The
purely introspective method has of course always been supplemented by
the comparison of similar psychic states in other persons, and in modern
psycho-physiology it is of comparatively minor importance.
See PSYCHOLOGY, ATTENTION, &c.; a clear statement will be found in G.
F. Stout's _Manual of Psychology_ (1898), i. 14.
INTUITION (from Lat. _intueri_, to look at), in philosophy, a term
applied to immediate or direct apprehension. The truth of a theorem in
geometry is demonstrated by a more or less elaborate series of
arguments. This is not the case, according to the intuitionalist school
of philosophy, with the apprehension of universal principles, which
present themselves as necessarily true in their own right, without any
sort of proof. The fact that things which are equal to the same things
are equal to one another is apprehended directly or immediately without
demonstration. Similarly in ethics the intuitional school holds that the
principles of right and wrong are immediately apprehended without
reference to any other criterion and without any appeal to experience.
Ethical intuitionalism sometimes goes even farther, and holds that the
conscience when faced with any particular action at once assigns to it a
definite moral value. Such a view presupposes that the moral quality of
an action has, as it were, concrete reality which the special faculty of
conscience immediately recognizes, much in the same way as a barometer
records atmospheric pressure. The intuitionalist view is attacked mainly
on the ground that it is false to the facts of experience, and it is
maintained that many of the so-called immediate a priori judgments are
in point of fact the result of forgotten processes of reasoning, and
therefore a posteriori. Minor grounds of attack are found in the
difficulty of discovering in certain primitive peoples any intuitive
conception of right and wrong, and in the great differences which exist
between moral systems in different countries and ages.
INULIN (C6H10O5)(x), in chemistry, a starch-like carbohydrate, known
also as alantin, menyanthin, dahlin, synanthrin and sinistrin. It occurs
in many plants of the large genus _Compositae_, to which the elicampane
(Lat. _inula_) belongs; and forms a white tasteless powder, sparingly
soluble in cold water, very soluble in hot water and insoluble in
alcohol. It is not coloured blue by iodine; and it reduces ammoniacal
silver and gold solutions, but not Fehling's solution. Heated with water
or dilute acids, it is converted into laevulose.
INVAR, an alloy of nickel and steel, characterized by an extremely small
coefficient of thermal expansion; it is specially useful in the
construction of pendulums and of geodetic measuring apparatus, in fact,
in all mechanical devices where it is an advantage to avoid temperature
compensation. The name was chosen as expressing the invariability of its
dimensions with heat. (See CLOCK; GEODESY.)
INVARIABLE PLANE, in celestial mechanics (see ASTRONOMY), that plane on
which the sum of the moments of momentum of all the bodies which make up
a system is a maximum. It derives its celebrity from the demonstration
by Laplace that to whatever mutual actions all the bodies of a system
may be subjected, the position of this plane remains invariable.
A conception of it may be reached in the following way. Suppose that
from the centre of gravity of the solar system (instead of which we
may, if we choose, take the centre of the sun), lines or radii
vectores be drawn to every body of the solar system. As the planet
revolves around the centre, each radius vector describes a surface of
which the area swept over in a unit of time measures the areal
velocity of the planet. The constancy of this velocity in the case of
the sun and a single planet is formulated in Kepler's second law. Next
pass any plane through the centre of motion and project the area just
defined upon that plane. We shall thus have a projected areal
velocity, the product of which by the mass of the planet is the moment
of momentum of the latter. Form this product for every body or mass of
matter in the system, and the sum of the moments is then invariable
whatever be the direction of the plane of projection. In the case of a
single body revolving around the sun this plane is that of its orbit.
When all the bodies of the system are taken into account, the
invariable plane is a certain mean among the planes of all the orbits.
In the case of the solar system the moment of Jupiter is so
preponderant that the position of the invariable plane does not
deviate much from that of the orbit of Jupiter. The influence of
Saturn comes next in determining it, that of all the other planets is
much smaller. The latest computation of the position of this plane is
by T. J. J. See, whose result for the position of the invariable plane
is inclination to ecliptic 1 deg. 35' 7".74, longitude of node on
ecliptic 106 deg. 8' 46".7 (Eq. 1850).
INVENTORY (post-class. Lat. _inventarium_, a list or repertory, from
_invenire_ to find), a detailed list, schedule or enumeration in
writing, of goods and chattels, credits and debts, and sometimes also of
lands and tenements.
(i) In law, perhaps its earliest, and certainly its most important use
has been in connexion with the doctrine of "benefit of inventory,"
derived by many legal systems from the _beneficium inventarii_ of Roman
law, according to which an heir might enter on his ancestor's
inheritance without being liable for the debts attaching to it or to the
claims of legatees beyond the value--previously ascertained by
"inventory"--of the estate. The benefit of inventory exists in Scots
law, in France (_benefice d'inventaire_), in Italy, Mauritius (_Civil
Code_, Art. 774), Quebec (_Civil Code_, Art. 660), St Lucia (_Civil
Code_, Art. 585), Louisiana (_Civil Code_, Arts. 1025 et seq.), and
under the Roman Dutch law in Ceylon. In South Africa benefit of
inventory is superseded by local legislation.
(ii.) In many systems of law, the duty is imposed on executors and
administrators of making an "inventory" of the estate of the testator or
intestate, in order to secure the property to the persons entitled to
it. In England this duty was created by statute in 1529. In modern
practice an inventory is not made unless called for, but the court may
order it _ex officio_, and will do so on the application of any really
interested party. Similar provisions for an inventory of the estate of
deceased persons are made in Scots law (Probate and Legacy Duties Act
1808 (s. 38), and Executors (Scotland) Act 1900 (s. 5), and in most of
the British colonies. In Scotland, prior to the Finance Act 1894 (which
imposed a tax, called "estate duty," on the principal value of all
property, heritable or movable, passing on death), the stamp duty on
movable property was termed "inventory duty."
In the United States, the duty of preparing an inventory is generally
imposed on executors and administrators; see Kent, _Commentaries on
American Law_ (new ed., 1896), ii. 414, 415; and cf. Gen. Stats. of
Connecticut, 1888, s. 578; New York Stats. s. 2714; New Jersey
(Orphans Court, s. 58).
(iii.) An analogous duty of preparing an "inventory" is imposed in many
countries on guardians and curators. In Scotland judicial factors are
charged with a similar statutory duty (Act of Sederunt, Nov. 25th, 1857,
under the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1856) as regards the estate of
insolvent debtors.
(iv.) In Scots law, the term "inventory" is also applied to a list of
documents made up for any purpose, e.g. the _inventory of process_ or
the _inventory of documents_, in an action, and the _inventory of
title-deeds_ produced on a judicial sale of lands.
(v.) In England an "inventory" of the personal chattels comprised in the
security is required to be annexed to a bill of sale (Bills of Sale Act
1882, s. 5). See also EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS.
INVERARAY, a royal and municipal burgh, the county town of Argyllshire,
Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1369. It lies on the southern shore of a bay,
where the river Aray enters Loch Fyne, 40 m. directly N.W. of Glasgow,
and 85 m. by water. The town consists of one street running east and
west, and a row of houses facing the bay. Near the church stands an
obelisk in memory of the Campbells who were hanged, untried, for their
share in the Argyll expedition of 1685 in connexion with the duke of
Monmouth's rebellion. The ancient market-cross, 8 ft. high, supposed to
have been brought from Iona in 1472, is a beautiful specimen of the
Scottish sculptured stones. The chief industry is the herring fishery,
the herring of Loch Fyne being celebrated. The town originally stood on
the north side of the bay, clustering round the ancient baronial hold,
attributed to Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, "the Singular," who
flourished at the end of the 14th century, but it was removed to its
present site in the middle of the 18th century. Inveraray was erected
into a burgh of barony in 1472; and Charles I., while a prisoner in
Carisbrooke Castle, raised it to a royal burgh in 1648. Much has been
done for it by the ducal house of Argyll, whose seat, Inveraray Castle,
is about 1 m. from the town. This handsome square structure, built
between 1744 and 1761 from designs by Robert Adam, consists of two
storeys, with a round overtopping tower at each corner. Some fine
tapestry and valuable relics were destroyed by fire in 1877, but the
damage to the castle was repaired in 1880. The earls and dukes of Argyll
were great planters of trees--mainly larch, spruce, silver fir and New
England pines--and their estates around Inveraray are consequently
among the most luxuriantly wooded in the Highlands. Duniquoich, a
finely timbered conical hill about 900 ft. high, adjoins the castle on
the north and is a picturesque landmark.
INVERCARGILL, the chief town of Southland county, South Island, New
Zealand, 139 m. by rail S.W. by W. from Dunedin. Pop. (1906) 7299. It
lies on a deep estuary of the south coast named New River Harbour, which
receives several streams famous for trout-fishing. It is the centre of
the large grazing and farming district of Southland; and has a number of
factories, including breweries, foundries, woollen mills and
timber-works. The plan of the town is rectangular, with wide streets;
and there is a fine open reserve. The harbour is deep and well
sheltered, but the greater part of the trade passes through the
neighbouring Bluff Harbour, on which is Campbelltown, 17 m. S. of
Invercargill by rail. Bluff Harbour is the port of call and departure
for steamers for Melbourne and Hobart. Exports are wool, preserved meat
and timber. The district of Southland was surveyed in 1841, but was
reported unfavourable, and settlement was delayed till 1857. Southland
was a separate province between 1860 and 1870, but, failing financially
as such, rejoined the parent province of Otago. Invercargill became a
municipality in 1871, and there are five suburban municipalities. The
town is the regular starting-point of a journey to the famous lakes
Wakatipu and Te Anau, which are approached by rail.
INVERELL, a town of Gough county, New South Wales, Australia, on the
Macintyre river, 341 m. N. of Sydney, with which it is connected by
rail. Pop. (1901) 3293. It is the centre of a prosperous agricultural
district producing, chiefly, wheat and maize; the vine is also largely
grown and excellent wine is made. Silver, tin and diamond mines are
worked near the town. Inverell became a municipality in 1872.
INVERKEITHING, a royal and police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland. Pop.
(1901) 1676. It is situated on an inner bay of the shore of the Firth of
Forth, 3(1/2) m. S.E. of Dunfermline and 13(1/4) m. N.W. of Edinburgh by
the North British railway, via the Forth Bridge. The chief industries
are tanning, shipbuilding, milling, paper-making, rope-making and
brick-making. With Stirling, Dunfermline, Culross and Queensferry,
Inverkeithing returns one member to parliament (the Stirling district
burghs). It received its charter from David I. St Peter's, the parish
church, dates from the 12th century, but having been nearly destroyed by
fire was rebuilt in 1826 in the Gothic style, the ancient tower,
however, being preserved. Sir Samuel Greig, the father of the Russian
navy and designer of the fortifications at Cronstadt, was born at
Inverkeithing in 1735. About half-way towards Dunfermline the battle of
Inverkeithing or Pitreavie took place on the 20th of July 1650, when
Cromwell's forces defeated the Royalists. A mile and a half to the south
lies NORTH QUEENSFERRY (pop. 594), the first railway station on the
north side of the Forth Bridge. A little to the west lies the bay of ST
MARGARET'S HOPE, which in 1903 was acquired by the government as the
site for the naval base of Rosyth, so named from the neighbouring ruined
castle of ROSYTH, once the residence of Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm
Canmore. On the west side of the Forth Bridge, in the fairway, lies the
rocky islet of BIMAR with a lighthouse, and immediately to the east is
the island of INCHGARVIE (Gaelic, "the rough island"), which once
contained a castle used as a State prison, the ruins of which were
removed to make way for one of the piers of the Forth Bridge.
INVERNESS, a royal, municipal and police burgh, seaport and county town
of Inverness-shire, Scotland. Pop. (1891), 19,303; (1901) 21,238. It
lies on both banks, though principally on the right, of the Ness; and is
118 m. N. of Perth by the Highland railway. Owing to its situation at
the north-eastern extremity of Glen More, the beauty of its environment
and its fine buildings, it is held to be the capital of the Highlands;
and throughout the summer it is the headquarters of an immense tourist
traffic. The present castle, designed by William Burn (1789-1870), dates
from 1835, and is a picturesque structure effectively placed on a hill
by the river's side; it contains the court and county offices. Of the
churches, the High or Parish church has a square tower surmounted with
a steeple, containing one of the bells which Cromwell removed from
Fortrose cathedral. On the left bank of the river stands St Andrew's
Episcopal Cathedral, in the Decorated Gothic, erected in 1866 from
designs by Dr Alexander Ross. Among the schools are the High School, the
collegiate school, the school of science and art, and the Royal Academy,
incorporated by royal charter in 1792. Other public buildings are the
museum, public library, observatory, the northern infirmary, the
district asylum, an imposing structure at the base of Dunain Hill (940
ft.), the Northern Counties Blind Institute, the Highland Orphanage and
the Town Hall, opened in 1882. In front of the last stands the Forbes
Memorial Fountain, and near it is the old town cross of 1685, at the
foot of which, protected since the great fire of 1411, is the
lozenge-shaped stone called Clach-na-Cudain (Stone of the Tubs), from
its having served as a resting-place for women carrying water from the
river. The old gaol spire, slightly twisted by the earthquake of 1816,
serves as a belfry for the town clock. Half a mile to the west of the
Ness is the hill of Tomnahurich (Gaelic, "The Hill of the Fairies"),
upon which is one of the most beautifully-situated cemeteries in Great
Britain. The open spaces in the town include Victoria park, Maggot Green
and the ground where the Northern Meeting--the most important athletic
gathering in Scotland--is held at the end of September. Inverness is the
great distributing centre for the Highlands. Its industries, however,
are not extensive, and consist mainly of tweed (tartan) manufactures,
brewing, distilling, tanning, soap and candle-making; there are also
nurseries, iron-foundries, saw-mills, granite works, and the shops of
the Highland Railway Company. There is some shipbuilding and a
considerable trade with Aberdeen, Leith, London and the east coast
generally, and by means of the Caledonian Canal with Glasgow, Liverpool
and Ireland. The Caledonian Canal passes within 1 m. of the town on its
western side. In Muirtown Basin are wharves for the loading and
unloading of vessels, and at Clachnaharry the Canal enters Beauly Firth.
There is little anchorage in the Ness, but at Kessock on the left bank
of the river-mouth, where there are piers, a breakwater and a coastguard
station, there are several acres of deep water. The river at Inverness
is crossed by four bridges, two of them for pedestrians only, and a
railway viaduct. The town, which is governed by a provost, bailies and
council, unites with Forres, Fortrose and Nairn (Inverness Burghs) in
sending one member to parliament.
Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in 565 was
visited by Columba with the intention of converting the Pictish king
Brude, who is supposed to have resided in the vitrified fort on Craig
Phadrick (550 ft.), 1(1/2) m. W. of the town. The castle is said to have
been built by Malcolm Canmore, after he had razed to the ground the
castle in which Macbeth according to tradition murdered Duncan, and
which stood on a hill 1/2 m. to the north-east. William the Lion (d. 1214)
granted the town four charters, by one of which it was created a royal
burgh. Of the Dominican abbey founded by Alexander III. in 1233 hardly a
trace remains. On his way to the battle of Harlaw in 1411 Donald of the
Isles burned the town, and sixteen years later James I. held a
parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned,
of whom three were executed for asserting an independent sovereignty. In
1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection,
Queen Mary was denied admittance into the castle by the governor, who
belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards therefor caused
to be hanged. The house in which she lived meanwhile stands in Bridge
Street. Beyond the northern limits of the town Cromwell built a fort
capable of accommodating 1000 men, but with the exception of a portion
of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration. In 1715 the
Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as barracks, and in 1746 they blew
it up.
INVERNESS-SHIRE, a highland county of Scotland, bounded N. by Ross and
Cromarty, and the Beauly and Moray Firths, N.E. by the shires of Nairn
and Elgin, E. by Banff and Aberdeen shires, S.E. by Perthshire, S. by
Argyllshire and W. by the Atlantic. It includes the Outer Hebrides
south of the northern boundary of Harris, and several of the Inner
Hebrides (see HEBRIDES) and is the largest shire in Scotland. It
occupies an area of 2,695,037 acres, or 4211 sq. m., of which more than
one-third belongs to the islands. The county comprises the districts of
Moidart, Arisaig and Morar in the S.W., Knoydart in the W., Lochaber in
the S., Badenoch in the S.E. and the Aird in the N. Excepting
comparatively small and fertile tracts in the N. on both sides of the
river Ness, in several of the glens and on the shores of some of the sea
lochs, the county is wild and mountainous in the extreme and
characterized by beautiful and in certain respects sublime scenery.
There are more than fifty mountains exceeding 3000 ft. in height, among
them Ben Nevis (4406), the highest mountain in the British Isles, the
extraordinary assemblage of peaks forming the Monadhliadh mountains in
the S.E., Ben Alder (3757) in the S., and the grand group of the
Cairngorms on the confines of the shires of Aberdeen and Banff.
In the north-west the Beauly river (16 m. long) is formed by the
confluence of the Farrar and the Glass. The Enrick (18 m.), rising in
Loch-nan-Eun, takes a north-easterly direction for several miles, and
then flowing due east falls into Loch Ness, just beyond Drumnadrochit,
close to the ruined keep of Castle Urquhart. The Ness (7 m.), a fine
stream for its length, emerges from Loch Dochfour and enters the sea to
the north of Inverness. The Moriston (19 m.), flows out of Loch Clunie,
and pursuing a course E. by N.E. falls into Loch Ness 4 m. south of
Mealfourvounie (2284 ft.) on the western shore opposite Foyers. The
Lochy (9 m.), issuing from the loch of that name, runs parallel with the
Caledonian Canal and enters Loch Linnhe at Fort William. The Spean (18
m.), flowing westwards from Loch Laggan, joins the Lochy as it leaves
Loch Lochy. The Nevis (12 m.), rising at the back of Ben Nevis, flows
round the southern base of the mountain and then running north-westwards
enters Loch Linnhe at Fort William. The Leven (12 m.), draining a series
of small lochs to the north-west of Rannoch, flows westward to Loch
Leven, forming during its course the boundary between the shires of
Inverness and Argyll. The Dulnain (28 m.), rising in the Monadhliath
Mountains, flows north-eastwards and enters the Spey near Grantown,
falling in its course nearly 2000 ft. The Truim (15(1/2) m.), rising
close to the Perthshire frontier, flows N.N.E. into the Spey. Three
great rivers spring in Inverness-shire, but finish their course in other
counties. These are the Spey, which for the first 60 m. of its course
belongs to the shire; the Findhorn (70 m.), rising in the Monadhliath
Mountains a few miles N.W. of the source of the Dulnain; and the Nairn
(38 m.), rising within a few miles of Loch Farraline. The two falls of
Foyers--the upper of 40 ft., the lower of 165 ft.--are celebrated for
their beauty, but their volume is affected, especially in drought, by
the withdrawal of water for the works of the British Aluminium Company,
which are driven by electric power derived from the river Foyers, the
intake being situated above the falls. Other noted falls are Moral on
the Enrick and Kilmorack on the Beauly.
The number of hill tarns and little lakes is very great, considerably
more than 200 being named. Loch Ness, the most beautiful and best known
of the larger lakes, is 22(1/2) m. long, 1(3/4) m. broad at its widest
point (Urquhart Bay), has a drainage area of 696 m., and, owing to its
vast depth (751 ft.), uniformity of temperature, and continual movement
of its waters, never freezes. It is the largest body of fresh water in
Great Britain, and forms part of the scheme of the Caledonian Canal. A
few miles S.W. is Loch Oich (4 m. long), also utilized for the purposes
of the Canal, which reaches its summit level (105 ft.) in this lake. To
the S.W. of it is Loch Lochy (9(1/2) m.), which is also a portion of the
Canal. Loch Arkaig (12 m.) lies in the country of the Camerons,
Achnacarry House, the seat of Lochiel, the chief of the clan, being
situated on the river Arkaig near the point where it issues from the
lake. The old castle was burnt down by the duke of Cumberland, but a few
ruins remain. After Culloden Prince Charles Edward found shelter in a
cave in the "Black Mile," as the road between Lochs Arkaig and Lochy is
called. Loch Quoich (6 m.) lies N. by W. of Loch Arkaig, and Loch Garry
(4(1/2) m.) a few miles to the N.E.; Loch Morar (11(1/2) m. long by
1(1/2) broad) is only about 600 yds. from the sea, to which it drains by
the river Morar, which falls over a rocky barrier, at the foot of which
is a famous salmon pool. The loch is 1017 ft. deep and is thus the
deepest lake in the United Kingdom. It contains several islands, on one
of which Lord Lovat was captured in 1746. Loch Laggan (7 m.) and Loch
Treig (5(1/2) m.) in the south of the county are both finely situated in
the midst of natural forests. The principal salt-water lochs on the
Atlantic seaboard are Loch Hourn ("Hell's Lake," so named from the wild
precipices rising sheer from the water), running inland for 14 m. from
the Sound of Sleat and separating Glenelg from Knoydart; and Loch Nevis
(14 m.), a few miles farther south.
The parallel roads of Glen Roy, a glen with a north-easterly to
south-westerly trend, a few miles east of Loch Lochy, presented a
problem that long exercised the minds of geologists. At heights of 1148
ft., 1067 ft. and 835 ft., there run uninterruptedly along each side of
the glen terraces of a width varying from 3 to 30 ft. Local tradition
ascribes them to the Ossianic heroes, and John Playfair (1748-1819)
argued that they were aqueducts. The fact that they occur also in the
neighbouring Glen Gloy and Glen Spean, however, disposes of an
artificial origin. John MacCulloch (1773-1835) propounded the theory
that they were lacustrine and not marine, and Agassiz followed him with
the suggestion that the water had been held up by a barrier of glacier
ice. This view is now generally accepted, and the roads may therefore be
regarded as the gently sloping banks of lakes dammed up by glacier ice.
Glen More-nan-Albin, or the Great Glen, is a vast "fault," or
dislocation, 62 m. in length, through which Thomas Telford constructed
(1804-1822) the Caledonian Canal connecting Loch Linnhe and the Moray
Firth. Glen More is said to be liable to shocks of earthquake, and Loch
Ness was violently agitated at the time of the great Lisbon earthquake
(1755).
Among the glens renowned for beauty are Glen Urquhart and Glen Moriston
to the west of Loch Ness, Glen Feshie in the east, and Glen Nevis at the
southern base of Ben Nevis. Glen Garry, to the west of Loch Oich, gave
its name to the well-known cap or "bonnet" worn both in the Highlands
and Lowlands. In Glen Finnan, at the head of Loch Shiel, Prince Charles
Edward raised his standard in 1745, an incident commemorated by a
monument erected in 1815 by Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale. The
great straths or valleys are in the north and east, the chief among them
being Strathfarrar, Strathglass and Strathnairn, and the heads of
Strathearn and Strathspey.
_Geology._--Almost the entire area of this county is occupied by the
younger Highland schists and metamorphic rocks. East of Loch Ericht
and the rivers Traim and Spey as far as Airemore and between there and
Duthel there are quartzites and quartzose schists; on the remaining
area the various kinds of schistose and gneissose rock have hardly
been worked out in detail. Granite masses occur in numerous isolated
patches; the largest is on the eastern boundary and includes the
flanks of Cairn Gorm, Cairn Tout, Braeriach, Carn Ban and Meall
Tisnail. Other smaller ones are found at Ben Nevis, where the lower
part of the mountain is granite, the upper part porphyritic felsite;
between Moy and Ben Buidhe Mhor; E. of Foyers, including Whitebridge,
Aberchalder and Loch Farraline; at Ben Alder, W. of Loch Ericht and
another between that loch and the river Pattack; at Banavie on the W.
of the river Lochy; around the upper end of Loch Clunie and at several
other places. The dioritic mass of Rannoch Moor just enters this
county between Loch Ericht and Loch Ossian.
The Old Red Sandstone extends into this county from Nairn through
Culloden Moor past Inverness and down Loch Ness to a point south of
Foyers; it occurs also on the south-east side of Loch Oich, and around
Beauly, where it forms the falls of Kilmorach. These rocks consist at
the base of coarse breccias and conglomerates passing upwards into
chocolate-coloured sandstone and flags, with the shaly series
containing limestone nodules known as the fish bed from the abundance
and importance of its fossil contents; it is well exposed in the Big
Burn and near Loch Ashie. At a higher horizon come more purple flags
and grits. The Great Glen which traverses the county is an old line of
earth fracture along which displacements have been produced during
more than one geological period. Roches moutonnees, glacial striations
and moraines and other evidences of the great Ice age are abundant,
besides the parallel roads of Glen Roy to which allusion has already
been made. The lowest of these terraces is prolonged into Glen Spean.
At numerous places on the coasts the remains of old marine terraces
occur at 100 ft. and 25 ft. above the sea.
Of the small isles belonging to Inverness-shire those of Rum and Eigg
are of the greatest interest. The northern part of Rum is made of
Torridonian rocks, shales below and red sandstones above; altogether
over 10,000 ft. are visible. These rocks have suffered thrusting and
the shales are thus made in places to overlie the sandstones. A few
patches of Torridonian occur in the south. Tertiary peridotites in
laccolitic masses cover a large area in the south of the island and
form the highest ground. These are penetrated by eucrites and gabbros,
followed later by granites; and the whole has been subsequently
crushed into a complex gneissose mass. Still later, dolerite sills and
sheets and dikes of granophyre and quartz felsite followed in the same
region. Eigg is mainly built of great basaltic lava flows with
intrusions of doleritic rocks; these were succeeded by more acid
intrusions, and again by a more basic series of dikes. Pitchstones
occur among the later rocks. The Sgurr is capped by a thick intrusion
of pitchstone. Jurassic rocks, including the Estuarine Lower Oolite
sandstones, shales and limestones and Middle Oolite Oxfordian rocks
are found in the north of this island; there is also a small trace of
Upper Cretaceous sandstone. Canna, Sanday and Muck are almost wholly
basaltic; a small patch of Jurassic occurs on the south of the
last-named island. (See also SKYE.)
_Forests and Fauna._--Deer forests occupy an enormous area, particularly
in the west, in the centre, in the south and south-east and in Skye.
From the number of trees found in peat bogs, the county must once have
been thickly covered with wood. Strathspey is still celebrated for its
forests, and the natural woods on Loch Arkaig, in Glen Garry, Glen
Moriston, Strathglass and Strathfarrar, and at the head of Loch Sheil,
are extensive. The forests consist chiefly of oak, Scotch fir, birch,
ash, mountain-ash (rowan), holly, elm, hazel and Scots poplar, but there
are also great plantations of larch, spruce, silver fir, beech and
plane. Part of the ancient Caledonian forest extends for several miles
near the Perthshire boundary. Red and roe deer, the Alpine and common
hare, black game and ptarmigan, grouse and pheasant abound on the moors
and woodlands. Foxes and wild cats occur, and otters are met with in the
lakes and streams. There are also eagles, hawks and owls, while great
flocks of waterfowl, particularly swans, resort to Loch Inch and other
lakes in Badenoch. Many of the rivers and several of the lochs abound
with salmon and trout, the salmon fisheries of the Beauly, Ness and
Lochy yielding a substantial return.
_Climate and Agriculture._--Rain is heavy and frequent in the mountains,
but slighter towards the northern coast; the fall for the year varying
from 73.17 in. at Fort William to 43.17 in. at Fort Augustus, and 26.53
in. at Inverness. The mean temperature for the year is 47.2 deg. F., for
January 38.5 deg. and for August 58 deg. Although since 1852 the
cultivated area has increased greatly, actually the percentage of land
under crops is still small. The Aird and Beauly districts, some of the
straths and several of the glens are fertile. Oats are the predominant
crop, barley is grown (mostly for the distilleries), but the wheat
acreage is trifling. Of green crops turnips do well in certain
districts, artificial manures being extensively used. In those quarters
where the soil is dry, potatoes are successfully raised. An immense
number of the holdings are crofts averaging 5 acres or under. About 50%
are between 5 acres and 50; but few are above 50. The operations of the
Crofters' Commission (1886) have been beneficial in a variety of ways.
Not only have rentals been reduced considerably and arrears cancelled,
but the increased sense of security resulting from the granting of fair
rentals, fixity of tenure and compensation for disturbance has induced
tenants to reclaim waste land, to enlarge their holdings and to apply
themselves more thriftily and with greater enterprise and intelligence
to the development of their farms. On the large holdings the most modern
methods of husbandry are followed, the farm buildings are excellent and
the implements up-to-date. The hills furnish good pastures. The flocks
of sheep are exceptionally heavy, the chief varieties on the uplands
being Cheviots and black-faced and in some of the lower districts
Leicesters and half-breeds. Of the cattle the principal breed is the
Highland, the largest and best herds of which are in the Western Isles.
Polled and shorthorns are also reared, and Ayrshires are kept for dairy
purposes. Great numbers of the hardy Highland ponies are raised on the
hill farms, and the breed of agricultural horses was improved by the
introduction of Clydesdale stallions. Where pigs are reared they appear
to be kept, especially amongst the crofters, for domestic consumption.
_Industries._--Manufactures are few. Indeed, excepting the industries
carried on in Inverness, they are almost entirely confined to
distilling--at Fort William, Kingussie, Carbost, Muir of Ord and some
other places--brewing, woollens (especially tartans, plaids and rough
tweeds), milling and (at Kirktown near Inverness) artificial manures.
The catering for the wants of thousands of sportsmen and tourists,
however, provides employment for a large number of persons, and has led
to the opening of hotels even in the remotest regions. The fisheries, on
the other hand, are of great value, especially to the Hebrideans. The
kelp industry has died out.
_Communications._--Owing to its physical character communication by rail
is somewhat restricted, but the Highland railway enters the shire from
the south near Dalwhinnie and runs to Inverness via Aviemore and Daviot.
Another portion of the same system also reaches the county town from
Nairnshire. The Dingwall and Skye railway passes along the southern
shore of Beauly Firth. In the south-west the West Highland railway
(North British) enters the county 2 m. N.W. of Rannoch station and
terminates at Mallaig, via Fort William and Banavie, sending off at
Spean Bridge a branch to Fort Augustus. There is also communication by
steamer with the piers of the Caledonian Canal and with the Western
Isles, and a considerable amount of shipping reaches Beauly and
Inverness by way of Moray Firth. Coaches supplement rail and steamer at
various points.
_Population and Government._--The population was 90,121 in 1891, and
90,104 in 1901, when 43,281 persons spoke Gaelic and English, and 11,722
Gaelic only. The only considerable towns are Inverness (pop. in 1901,
23,066) and Fort William (2087). The county returns one member to
parliament, but the county town, along with Forres, Fortrose and Nairn,
belongs to the Inverness district group of parliamentary burghs.
Inverness forms a sheriffdom with Elgin and Nairn, and there are
resident sheriffs-substitute at Inverness, Fort William, Portree and
Lochmaddy. The county is under school-board jurisdiction, and there are
voluntary schools (mostly Roman Catholic) in several places. The
secondary schools in Inverness and some in the county earn grants for
higher education. The town council of Inverness subsidizes the burgh
technical and art school. At Fort Augustus is a well-known collegiate
institution for the education of the sons of well-to-do Roman Catholics.
_History._--To the north of the boundary hills of the present counties
of Argyll and Perth (beyond which the Romans attempted no occupation)
the country was occupied by the Picts, the true Caledonians. The
territory was afterwards called the province of Moray, and extended from
the Spey and Loch Lochy to Caithness. These limits it retained until the
17th century, when Caithness (in 1617), Sutherland (in 1633) and
Ross-shire (in 1661) were successively detached. Towards the end of the
6th century Columba undertook the conversion of the Picts, himself
baptizing their king, Brude, at Inverness; but paganism died hard and
tribal wars prevented progress. In the 11th century, after the death of
Duncan, Scotland was divided between Macbeth and the Norwegian leader
Thorfinn, who took for his share the land peopled by the northern Picts.
Malcolm Canmore, avenging his father, defeated and slew Macbeth (1057),
and at a later date reduced the country and annexed it to the kingdom of
Scotland. In 1107, when the bishopric of Moray was founded, the
influence of the Church was beginning to effect some improvement in
manners. Nevertheless, a condition of insurrection supervened until the
reign of David I., when colonists of noble birth were settled in various
parts of the shire. After the battle of Largs (1263) the Norse yoke was
thrown off. In 1303 Edward I.'s expedition to Scotland passed through
the northern districts, his army laying siege to Urquhart and Beaufort
castles. After the plantation the clan system gradually developed and
attained in the shire its fullest power and splendour. The Frasers
occupied the Aird and the district around Beauly; the Chisholms the
Urquhart country; the Grants the Spey; the Camerons the land to the west
and south of Loch Lochy (Locheil); the Chattan--comprising several septs
such as the Macphersons, Mackintoshes, Farquharsons and
Davidsons--Badenoch; the Macdonalds of the Isles Lochaber; the
Clanranald Macdonalds Moidart, Knoydart, Morar, Arisaig and Glengarry;
and the Macleods Skye. Unfortunately the proud and fiery chieftains were
seldom quiet. The clans were constantly fighting each other,
occasionally varying their warfare by rebellion against the sovereign.
In many quarters the Protestant movement made no headway, the clansmen
remaining steadfast to the older creed. At the era of the Covenant,
Montrose conducted a vigorous campaign in the interests of the
Royalists, gaining a brilliant victory at Inverlochy (1645), but the
effects of his crusade were speedily neutralized by the equally masterly
strategy of Cromwell. Next Episcopacy appeared to be securing a
foothold, until Viscount Dundee fell at Killiecrankie, that battle being
followed by a defeat of the Highlanders at Cromdale in 1690. The futile
rising headed by Mar in 1715 led to a combined effort to hold the clans
in check. Forts were constructed at Inverness, Kilchumin (Fort Augustus)
and Kilmallie (Fort William); Wade's famous roads--exhibiting at many
points notable examples of engineering--enabled the king's soldiers
rapidly to scour the country, and general disarming was required. Prince
Charles Edward's attempt in 1745 had the effect of bringing most of the
clans together for a while; but the clan system was broken up after his
failure and escape. Heritable jurisdictions were abolished. Even the
wearing of the Highland dress was proscribed. The effects of this policy
were soon evident. Many of the chieftains became embarrassed, their
estates were sold, and the glensfolk, impoverished but high-spirited,
sought homes in Canada and the United States. As time passed and passion
abated, the proposal was made to raise several Highland regiments for
the British army. It was entertained with surprising favour, and among
the regiments then enrolled were the 79th Cameron Highlanders. With the
closing of the chapter of the Jacobite romance the shire gradually
settled down to peaceful pursuits.
The county in parts is rich in antiquarian remains. Stone axes and other
weapons or tools have been dug up in the peat, and prehistoric jewelry
has also been found. Lake dwellings occur in Loch Lundy in Glengarry and
on Loch Beauly, and stone circles are numerous, as at Inches, Clava, and
in the valley of the Ness. Pictish towers or brochs are met with in
Glenbeg (Glenelg), and duns (forts) in the Aird and to the west and
south-west of Beauly and elsewhere. Among vitrified forts the principal
are those on Craig Phadrick, Dundbhairdghall in Glen Nevis, Dun Fionn or
Fingal's fort on the Beauly, near Kilmorack, Achterawe in Glengarry and
in Arisaig.
See J. Cameron Lees, _History of the County of Inverness_ (Edinburgh,
1897); C. Fraser-Mackintosh, _Letters of Two Centuries_ (Inverness,
1890); Alexander Mackenzie, _Histories of the Mackenzies_, Camerons,
&c. (Inverness, 1874-1896); A. Stewart, _Nether Lochaber_ (Edinburgh,
1883); Alexander Carmichael, "Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the
Outer Hebrides" (_Crofters' Commission Report_, 1884).
INVERSION (Lat. _invertere_, to turn about), in chemistry, the name
given to the hydrolysis of cane sugar into a mixture of glucose and
fructose (invert sugar); it was chosen because the operation was
attended by a change from dextro-rotation of polarized light to a
laevo-rotation. In mathematics, inversion is a geometrical method,
discovered jointly by Stubbs and Ingram of Dublin, and employed
subsequently with conspicuous success by Lord Kelvin in his electrical
researches. The notion may be explained thus: If R be a circle of centre
O and radius r, and P, Q be two points on a radius such that OP.OQ = r^2,
then P, Q are said to be inverse points for a circle of radius r, and O
is the centre of inversion. If one point, say P, traces a curve, the
corresponding locus of Q is said to be the inverse of the path of P. The
fundamental propositions are: (1) the inverse of a circle is a line or a
circle according as the centre of inversion is on or off the
circumference; (2) the angle at the intersection of two circles or of a
line and a circle is unaltered by inversion. The method obviously
affords a ready means for converting theorems involving lines and
circles into other propositions involving the same, but differently
placed, figures; in mathematical physics it is of special value in
solving geometrically electrostatical and optical problems.
INVERURIE, a royal, municipal and police burgh of Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, situated at the confluence of the rivers Don and Ury, 16(1/4)
m. N.W. of Aberdeen by rail, on the Great North of Scotland railway.
Pop. (1901) 3624. Paper-making, milling, and the making of mineral
waters are the chief manufactures, but the town is an important centre
of the cattle trade with London, markets being held at frequent
intervals. It also contains the workshops of the Great North of Scotland
railway. Inverurie belongs to the Elgin district group of parliamentary
burghs. At Harlaw, about 3 m. to the N.W., was fought in 1411 the great
battle between Donald, lord of the Isles, and the royal forces under the
earl of Mar. Not far from the scene of this conflict stands Balquhain
Castle, a seat of the Leslies, now a mere shell, which was occupied by
Queen Mary in September 1562 before the fight at Corrichie between her
forces, led by the earl of Moray, and those of the earl of Huntly. The
granite block from which she is said to have viewed the combat is still
called the Queen's Chair or the Maiden Stone. Near Bennachie (1619 ft.)
are stone circles and monoliths supposed to be of Druidical origin.
There is a branch line from Inverurie to Old Meldrum, 5(3/4) m. to the
N.E. by rail, a market town with a charter dating from 1672, where
brewing and distilling are carried on.