[1] The word "kidney" first appears in the early part of the 14th
century in the form _kidenei_, with plural _kideneiren_, _kideneris_,
_kidneers_, &c. It has been assumed that the second part of the word
is "neer" or "near" (cf. Ger. _Niere_), the common dialect word for
"kidney" in northern, north midland and eastern counties of England
(see J. Wright, _English Dialect Dictionary_, 1903, _s.v._ Near), and
that the first part represents the O.E. _cwið_, belly, womb; this the
_New English Dictionary_ considers improbable; there is only one
doubtful instance of singular _kidnere_ and the ordinary form ended
in -_ei_ or _ey_. Possibly this represents M.E. _ey_, plur. _eyren_,
egg, the name being given from the resemblance in shape. The first
part is uncertain.
KIDWELLY (_Cydweli_), a decayed market-town and municipal borough of
Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated (as its name implies) near the junction
of two streams, the Gwendraeth Fawr and the Gwendraeth Fach, a short
distance from the shores of Carmarthen Bay. Pop. (1901), 2285. It has a
station on the Great Western railway. The chief attraction of Kidwelly
is its magnificent and well-preserved castle, one of the finest in South
Wales, dating chiefly from the 13th century and admirably situated on a
knoll above the Gwendraeth Fach. The parish church of St Mary, of the
14th century, possesses a lofty tower with a spire. The quiet little
town has had a stirring history. It was a place of some importance when
William de Londres, a companion of Fitz Hamon and his conquering
knights, first erected a castle here. In 1135 Kidwelly was furiously
attacked by Gwenllian, wife of Griffith ap Rhys, prince of South Wales,
and a battle, fought close to the town at a place still known as Maes
Gwenllian, ended in the total defeat and subsequent execution of the
Welsh princess. Later, the extensive lordship of Kidwelly became the
property through marriage of Henry, earl of Lancaster, and to this
circumstance is due the exclusive jurisdiction of the town. Kidwelly
received its first charter of incorporation from Henry VI.; its present
charter dating from 1618. The decline of Kidwelly is due to the
accumulation of sand at the mouth of the river, and to the consequent
prosperity of the neighbouring Llanelly.
KIEF, KEF or KEIF (a colloquial form of the Arabic _kaif_, pleasure or
enjoyment), the state of drowsy contentment produced by the use of
narcotics. To "do kef," or to "make kef," is to pass the time in such a
state. The word is used in northern Africa, especially in Morocco, for
the drug used for the purpose.
KIEL, the chief naval port of Germany on the Baltic, a town of the
Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein. Pop. (1900), 107,938; (1905),
163,710, including the incorporated suburbs. It is beautifully situated
at the southern end on the Kieler Busen (bay or harbour of Kiel), 70 m.
by rail N. from Hamburg. It consists of a somewhat cramped old town,
lying between the harbour and a sheet of water called Kleiner Kiel, and
a better built and more spacious new town, which has been increased by
the incorporation of the garden suburbs of Brunswick and Düsternbrook.
In the old town stands the palace, built in the 13th century, enlarged
in the 18th and restored after a fire in 1838. It was once the seat of
the dukes of Holstein-Gottorp, who resided here from 1721 to 1773, and
became the residence of Prince Henry of Prussia. Other buildings are the
church of St Nicholas (restored in 1877-1884), dating from 1240, with a
lofty steeple; the old town-hall on the market square; the church of the
Holy Ghost; three fine modern churches, those of St James, and St Jürgen
and of St Ansgar; and the theatre. Further to the north and facing the
bay is the university, founded in 1665 by Christian Albert, duke of
Schleswig, and named after him "Christian Albertina." The new buildings
were erected in 1876, and connected with them are a library of 240,000
volumes, a zoological museum, a hospital, a botanical garden and a
school of forestry. The university, which is celebrated as a medical
school, is attended by nearly 1000 students, and has a teaching staff of
over 100 professors and docents. Among other scientific and educational
institutions are the Schleswig-Holstein museum of national antiquities
in the old university buildings, the Thaulow museum (rich in
Schleswig-Holstein wood-carving of the 16th and 17th centuries), the
naval academy, the naval school and the school for engineers.
The pride of Kiel is its magnificent harbour, which has a comparatively
uniform depth of water, averaging 40 ft., and close to the shores 20 ft.
Its length is 11 m. and its breadth varies from ¼ m. at the southern end
to 4½ m. at the mouth. Its defences, which include two forts on the west
and four on the east side, all situated about 5 m. from the head of the
harbour at the place (Friedrichsort) where its shores approach one
another, make it a place of great strategic strength. The imperial docks
(five in all) and ship-building yards are on the east side facing the
town, between Gaarden and Ellerbeck, and comprise basins capable of
containing the largest war-ships afloat. The imperial yard employs 7000
hands, and another 7000 are employed in two large private ship-building
works, the Germania (Krupp's) and Howalds'. The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal,
commonly called the Kiel Canal, connecting the Baltic with the North Sea
at Brunsbüttel, has its eastern entrance at Wik, 1½ m. N. of Kiel (see
GERMANY: _Waterways_). The town and adjacent villages, e.g. Wik,
Heikendorf and Laboe, are resorted to for sea-bathing, and in June of
each year a regatta, attended by yachts from all countries, is held. The
_Kieler Woche_ is one of the principal social events in Germany, and
corresponds to the "Cowes week" in England. Kiel is connected by day and
night services with Korsör in Denmark by express passenger boats. The
harbour yields sprats which are in great repute. The principal
industries are those connected with the imperial navy and ship-building,
but embrace also flour-mills, oil-works, iron-foundries, printing-works,
saw-mills, breweries, brick-works, soap-making and fish-curing. There is
an important trade in coal, timber, cereals, fish, butter and cheese.
The name of Kiel appears as early as the 10th century in the form Kyl
(probably from the Anglo-Saxon _Kille_ = a safe place for ships). Kiel
is mentioned as a city in the next century; in 1242 it received the
Lübeck rights; in the 14th century it acquired various trading
privileges, having in 1284 entered the Hanseatic League. In recent times
Kiel has been associated with the peace concluded in January 1814
between Great Britain, Denmark and Sweden, by which Norway was ceded to
Sweden. In 1773 Kiel became part of Denmark, and in 1866 it passed with
the rest of Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia. Since being made a great
naval arsenal, Kiel has rapidly developed in prosperity and population.
See Prahl, _Chronika der Stadt Kiel_ (Kiel, 1856); Erichsen,
_Topographie des Landkreises Kiel_ (Kiel, 1898); H. Eckardt, _Alt-Kiel
in Wort und Bild_ (Kiel, 1899); P. Hasse, _Das Kieler Stadtbuch,
1264-1289_ (Kiel, 1875); _Das älteste Kieler Rentebuch 1300, 1487_,
edited by C. Reuter (Kiel, 1893); _Das zweite Kieler Rentebuch 1487,
1586_, edited by W. Stern (Kiel, 1904); and the _Mitteilungen der
Gesellschaft für Kieler Stadtgeschichte_ (Kiel, 1877, 1904).
KIELCE, a government in the south-west of Russian Poland, surrounded by
the governments of Piotrkow and Radom and by Austrian Galicia. Area,
3896 sq. m. Its surface is an elevated plateau 800 to 1000 ft. in
altitude, intersected in the north-east by a range of hills reaching
1350 ft. and deeply trenched in the south. It is drained by the Vistula
on its south-east border, and by its tributaries, the Nida and the
Pilica, which have a very rapid fall and give rise to inundations.
Silurian and Devonian quartzites, dolomite, limestones and sandstones
prevail in the north, and contain rich iron ores, lead and copper ores.
Carboniferous deposits containing rich coal seams occur chiefly in the
south, and extend into the government of Piotrkow. Permian limestones
and sandstones exist in the south. The Triassic deposits contain very
rich zinc ores of considerable thickness and lead. The Jurassic deposits
consist of iron-clays and limestones, containing large caves. The
Cretaceous deposits yield gypsum, chalk and sulphur. White and black
marble are also extracted. The soil is of great variety and fertile in
parts, but owing to the proximity of the Carpathians, the climate is
more severe than might be expected. Rye, wheat, oats, barley and
buckwheat are grown; modern intensive culture is spreading, and land
fetches high prices, the more so as the peasants' allotments were small
at the outset and are steadily decreasing. Out of a total of 2,193,300
acres suitable for cultivation 53.4% are actually cultivated. Grain is
exported. Gardening is a thriving industry in the south; beet is grown
for sugar in the south-east. Industries are considerably developed: zinc
ores are extracted, as well as some iron and a little sulphur. Tiles,
metallic goods, leather, timber goods and flour are the chief products
of the manufactures. Pop. (1897), 765,212, for the most part Poles, with
11% Jews; (1906, estimated), 910,900. By religion 88% of the people are
Roman Catholics. Kielce is divided into seven districts, the chief towns
of which, with populations in 1897, are Kielce (q.v.), Jedrzejow (Russ.
Andreyev, 5010), Miechow (4156), Olkusz (3491), Pinczów (8095), Stopnica
(4659) and Wloszczowa (23,065).
KIELCE, a town of Russian Poland, capital of the above government, 152
m. by rail S. of Warsaw, situated in a picturesque hilly country. Pop.
(1890), 12,775; (1897), 23,189. It has a castle, built in 1638 and for
some time inhabited by Charles XII.; it was renowned for its portrait
gallery and the library of Zaluski, which was taken to St Petersburg.
The squares and boulevards are lined with handsome modern buildings. The
principal factories are hemp-spinning, cotton-printing and cement works.
The town was founded in 1173 by a bishop of Cracow. In the 16th century
it was famous for its copper mines, but they are no longer worked.
KIEPERT, HEINRICH (1818-1899), German geographer, was born at Berlin on
the 31st of July 1818. He was educated at the university there, studying
especially history, philology and geography. In 1840-1846, in
collaboration with Karl Ritter, he issued his first work, _Atlas von
Hellas und den hellenischen Kolonien_, which brought him at once into
eminence in the sphere of ancient historical cartography. In 1848 his
_Historisch-geographischer Atlas der alten Welt_ appeared, and in 1854
the first edition of the _Atlas antiquus_, which has obtained very wide
recognition, being issued in English, French, Russian, Dutch and
Italian. In 1894 Kiepert produced the first part of a larger atlas of
the ancient world under the title _Formae orbis antiqui_; his valuable
maps in _Corpus inscriptionum latinarum_ must also be mentioned. In
1877-1878 his _Lehrbuch der alten Geographie_ was published, and in 1879
_Leitfaden der alten Geographie_, which was translated into English (_A
Manual of Ancient Geography_, 1881) and into French. Among Kiepert's
general works one of the most important was the excellent _Neuer
Handatlas über alle Teile der Erde_ (1855 et seq.), and he also compiled
a large number of special and educational maps. Asia Minor was an area
in which he took particular interest. He visited it four times in
1841-1888; and his first map (1843-1846), together with his _Karte des
osmanischen Reiches in Asien_ (1844 and 1869), formed the highest
authority for the geography of the region. Kiepert was professor of
geography in the university of Berlin from 1854. He died at Berlin on
the 21st of April 1899. He left unpublished considerable material in
various departments of his work, and with the assistance of this his son
Richard (b. 1846), who followed his father's career, was enabled to
issue a map of Asia Minor in 24 sheets, on a scale of 1 : 400,000 (1902
et seq.), and to carry on the issue of _Formae orbis antiqui_.
KIERKEGAARD, SÖREN AABY (1813-1855), Danish philosopher, the seventh
child of a Jutland hosier, was born in Copenhagen on the 5th of May
1813. As a boy he was delicate, precocious and morbid in temperament. He
studied theology at the university of Copenhagen, where he graduated in
1840 with a treatise _On Irony_. For two years he travelled in Germany,
and in 1842 settled finally in Copenhagen, where he died on the 11th of
November 1855. He had lived in studious retirement, subject to physical
suffering and mental depression. His first volume, _Papers of a Still
Living Man_ (1838), a characterization of Hans Andersen, was a failure,
and he was for some time unnoticed. In 1843 he published _Euten--Eller_
(_Either--or_) (4th ed., 1878), the work on which his reputation mainly
rests; it is a discussion of the ethical and aesthetic ideas of life. In
his last years he carried on a feverish agitation against the theology
and practice of the state church, on the ground that religion is for the
individual soul, and is to be separated absolutely from the state and
the world. In general his philosophy was a reaction against the
speculative thinkers--Steffens (q.v.), Niels Treschow (1751-1833) and
Frederik Christian Sibbern (1785-1872); it was based on the absolute
dualism of Faith and Knowledge. His chief follower was Rasmus Nielsen
(1809-1884) and he was opposed by Georg Brandes, who wrote a brilliant
account of his life and works. As a dialectician he has been described
as little inferior to Plato, and his influence on the literature of
Denmark is considerable both in style and in matter. To him Ibsen owed
his character Brand in the drama of that name.
See his posthumous autobiographical sketch, _Syns punktetfor min
Forfattervirksomhed_ ("Standpoint of my Literary Work"); Georg
Brandes, _Sören Kierkegaard_ (Copenhagen, 1877); A. Bärthold, _Noten
zu K.'s Lebensgeschichte_ (Halle, 1876), _Die Bedeutung der
ästhetischen Schriften S. Kierkegaarde_ (Halle, 1879) and _S. K.'s
Persönlichkeit in ihrer Verwirklichung der Ideale_ (Gütersloh, 1886);
F. Petersen, _S. K.'s Christendomsforkyndelae_ (Christiania, 1877).
For Kierkegaard's relation to recent Danish thought, see Höffding's
_Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie_ (1888), vol. ii.
KIEV, KIEFF, or KIYEFF, a government of south-western Russia,
conterminous with those of Minsk, Poltava, Chernigov, Podolia, Kherson
and Volhynia; area 19,686 sq. m. It represents a deeply trenched
plateau, 600 to 800 ft. in altitude, reaching 950 to 1050 ft. in the
west, assuming a steep character in the middle, and sloping gently
northwards to the marshy regions of the Pripet, while on the east it
falls abruptly to the valley of the Dnieper, which lies only 250 to 300
ft. above the sea. General A. Tillo has shown that neither geologically
nor tectonically can "spurs of the Carpathians" penetrate into Kiev.
Many useful minerals are extracted, such as granites, gabbro,
labradorites of a rare beauty, syenites and gneiss, marble, grinding
stones, pottery clay, phosphorites, iron ore and mineral colours.
Towards the southern and central parts the surface is covered by deep
rich "black earth." Nearly the whole of the government belongs to the
basin of the Dnieper, that river forming part of its eastern boundary.
In the south-west are a few small tributaries of the Bug. Besides the
Dnieper the only navigable stream is its confluent the Pripet. The
climate is more moderate than in middle Russia, the average temperatures
at the city of Kiev being--year, 44.5°; January, 21°; July, 68°; yearly
rainfall, 22 inches. The lowlands of the north are covered with woods;
they have the flora of the Polyesie, or marshy woodlands of Minsk, and
are peopled with animals belonging to higher latitudes.[1] The
population, which was 2,017,262 in 1863, reached 3,575,457 in 1897, of
whom 1,791,503 were women, and 147,878 lived in towns; and in 1904 it
reached 4,042,526, of whom 2,030,744 were women. The estimated
population in 1906 was 4,206,100. In 1897 there were 2,738,977 Orthodox
Greeks, 14,888 Nonconformists, 91,821 Roman Catholics, 423,875 Jews, and
6820 Protestants.
No less than 41 % of the land is in large holdings, and 45 % belongs to
the peasants. Out of an area of 12,600,000 acres, 11,100,000 acres are
available for cultivation, 4,758,000 acres are under crops, 650,000
acres under meadows, and 1,880,000 acres under woods. About 290,000
acres are under beetroot, for sugar. The crops principally grown are
wheat, rye, oats, millet, barley and buckwheat, with, in smaller
quantities, hemp, flax, vegetables, fruit and tobacco. Camels have been
used for agricultural work. Bee-keeping and gardening are general. The
chief factories are sugar works and distilleries. The former produce
850,000 to 1,150,000 tons of sugar and over 50,000 tons of molasses
annually. The factories include machinery works and iron foundries,
tanneries, steam flour-mills, petroleum refineries and tobacco
factories. Two main railways, starting from Kiev and Cherkasy
respectively, cross the government from N.E. to S.W., and two lines
traverse its southern part from N.W. to S.E., parallel to the Dnieper.
Steamers ply on the Dnieper and some of its tributaries. Wheat, rye,
oats, barley and flour are exported. There are two great fairs, at Kiev
and Berdichev respectively, and many of minor importance. Trade is very
brisk, the river traffic alone being valued at over one million sterling
annually. The government is divided into twelve districts. The chief
town is Kiev (q.v.)and the district towns, with their populations in
1897, Berdichev (53,728), Cherkasy (29,619), Chigirin (9870), Kanev
(8892), Lipovets (6068), Radomysl (11,154), Skvira (16,265), Tarashcha
(11,452), Umañ (28,628), Vasilkov (17,824) and Zvenigorodka (16,972).
The plains on the Dnieper have been inhabited since probably the
Palaeolithic period, and the burial-grounds used since the Stone Age.
The burial mounds (_kurgans_) of both the Scythians and the Slavs,
traces of old forts (_gorodishche_), stone statues, and more recent
caves offer abundant material for anthropological and ethnographical
study.