Many artificial compounds have, from time to time, been tried as

substitutes for ivory; amongst them potatoes treated with sulphuric

acid. Celluloid is familiar to us nowadays. In the form of bonzoline,

into which it is said to enter, it is used largely for billiard balls;

and a new French substitute--a caseine made from milk, called

gallalith--has begun to be much used for piano keys in the cheaper

sorts of instrument. Odontolite is mammoth ivory, which through lapse

of time and from surroundings becomes converted into a substance known

as fossil or blue ivory, and is used occasionally in jewelry as

turquoise, which it very much resembles. It results from the tusks of

antediluvian mammoths buried in the earth for thousands of years,

during which time under certain conditions the ivory becomes slowly

penetrated with the metallic salts which give it the peculiar vivid

blue colour of turquoise.

_Ivory Sculpture and the Decorative Arts._--The use of ivory as a

material peculiarly adapted for sculpture and decoration has been

universal in the history of civilization. The earliest examples which

have come down to us take us back to prehistoric times, when, so far as

our knowledge goes, civilization as we understand it had attained no

higher degree than that of the dwellers in caves, or of the most

primitive races. Throughout succeeding ages there is continued evidence

that no other substance--except perhaps wood, of which we have even

fewer ancient examples--has been so consistently connected with man's

art-craftsmanship. It is hardly too much to say that to follow properly

the history of ivory sculpture involves the study of the whole world's

art in all ages. It will take us back to the most remote antiquity, for

we have examples of the earliest dynasties of Egypt and Assyria. Nor is

there entire default when we come to the periods of the highest

civilization of Greece and Rome. It has held an honoured place in all

ages for the adornment of the palaces of the great, not only in

sculpture proper but in the rich inlay of panelling, of furniture,

chariots and other costly articles. The Bible teems with references to

its beauty and value. And when, in the days of Pheidias, Greek sculpture

had reached the highest perfection, we learn from ancient writers that

colossal statues were constructed--notably the "Zeus of Olympia" and the

"Athena of the Parthenon." The faces, hands and other exposed portions

of these figures were of ivory, and the question, therefore, of the

method of production of such extremely large slabs as perhaps were used

has been often debated. A similar difficulty arises with regard to other

pieces of considerable size, found, for example, amongst consular

diptychs. It has been conjectured that some means of softening and

moulding ivory was known to the ancients, but as a matter of fact though

it may be softened it cannot be again restored to its original

condition. If up to the 4th century we are unable to point to a large

number of examples of sculpture in ivory, from that date onwards the

chain is unbroken, and during the five or six hundred years of unrest

and strife from the decline of the Roman empire in the 5th century to

the dawn of the Gothic revival of art in the 11th or 12th, ivory

sculpture alone of the sculptural arts carries on the preservation of

types and traditions of classic times in central Europe. Most important

indeed is the rôle which existing examples of ivory carving play in the

history of the last two centuries of the consulates of the Western and

Eastern empires. Though the evidences of decadence in art may be marked,

the close of that period brings us down to the end of the reign of

Justinian (527-563). Two centuries later the iconoclastic persecutions

in the Eastern empire drive westward and compel to settle there numerous

colonies of monks and artificers. Throughout the Carlovingian period,

the examples of ivory sculpture which we possess in not inconsiderable

quantity are of extreme importance in the history of the early

development of Byzantine art in Europe. And when the Western world of

art arose from its torpor, freed itself from Byzantine shackles and

traditions, and began to think for itself, it is to the sculptures in

ivory of the Gothic art of the 13th and 14th centuries that we turn with

admiration of their exquisite beauty of expression. Up to about the 14th

century the influence of the church was everywhere predominant in all

matters relating to art. In ivories, as in mosaics, enamels or miniature

painting it would be difficult to find a dozen examples, from the age of

Constantine onwards, other than sacred ones or of sacred symbolism. But

as the period of the Renaissance approached, the influence of romantic

literature began to assert itself, and a feeling and style similar to

those which are characteristic of the charming series of religious art

in ivory, so touchingly conceived and executed, meet us in many objects

in ivory destined for ordinary domestic uses and ornament. Mirror cases,

caskets for jewelry or toilet purposes, combs, the decoration of arms,

or of saddlery or of weapons of the chase, are carved and chased with

scenes of real life or illustrations of the romances, which bring home

to us in a vivid manner details of the manners and customs, amusements,

dresses and domestic life of the times. With the Renaissance and a

return to classical ideas, joined with a love of display and of gorgeous

magnificence, art in ivory takes a secondary place. There is a want of

simplicity and of originality. It is the period of the commencement of

decadence. Then comes the period nicknamed _rococo_, which persisted so

long. Ivory carving follows the vulgar fashion, is content with copying

or adapting, and until the revival in our own times is, except in rare

instances, no longer to be classed as a fine art. It becomes a trade and

is in the hands of the mechanic of the workshop. In this necessarily

brief and condensed sketch we have been concerned mainly with ivory

carving in Europe. It will be necessary to give also, presently, some

indications enabling the inquirer to follow the history--or at least to

put him on the track of it--not only in the different countries of the

West but also in India, China and Japan.

_Prehistoric Ivory Carvings._--These are the result of investigations

made about the middle of the 19th century in the cave dwellings of the

Dordogne in France and also of the lake dwellings of Switzerland. As

records they are unique in the history of art. Further than this our

wonderment is excited at finding these engravings or sculptures in the

round, these chiselled examples of the art of the uncultivated savage,

conceived and executed with a feeling of delicacy and restraint which

the most modern artist might envy. Who they were who executed them must

be left to the palaeontologist and geologist to decide. We can only be

certain that they were contemporary with the period when the mammoth and

the reindeer still roved freely in southern France. The most important

examples are the sketch of the mammoth (see PAINTING, Plate I.), on a

slab of ivory now in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, the head and

shoulders of an ibex carved in the round on a piece of reindeer horn,

and the figure of a woman (instances of representations of the human

form are most rare) naked and wearing a necklace and bracelet. Many of

the originals are in the museum at St Germain-en-Laye, and casts of a

considerable number are in the British Museum.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Panel with Cartouche, Nineveh.]

_Ancient Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman Ivories._--We know from

ancient writers that the Egyptians were skilled in ivory carving and

that they procured ivory in large quantities from Ethiopia. The Louvre

possesses examples of a kind of flat castanets or clappers, in the form

of the curve of the tusks themselves, engraved in outline, beautifully

modelled hands forming the tapering points; and large quantities of

small objects, including a box of plain form and simple decoration

identified from the inscribed praenomen as the fifth dynasty, about 4000

B.C. The British Museum and the museum at Cairo are also comparatively

rich. But no other collection in the world contains such an interesting

collection of ancient Assyrian ivories as that in the British Museum.

Those exhibited number some fifty important pieces, and many other

fragments are, on account of their fragility or state of decay, stowed

away. The collection is the result of the excavations by Layard about

1840 on the supposed site of Nineveh opposite the modern city of Mosul.

When found they were so decomposed from the lapse of time as scarcely to

bear touching or the contact of the external air. Layard hit upon the

ingenious plan of boiling in a solution of gelatine and thus restoring

to them the animal matter which had dried up in the course of centuries.

Later, the explorations of Flinders Petrie and others at Abydos brought

to light a considerable number of sculptured fragments which may be even

two thousand years older than those of Nineveh. They have been exhibited

in London and since distributed amongst various museums at home and

abroad.

[Illustration: From photo by W. A. Mansell & Co.

FIG. 4.--Leaf of diptych showing combats with stags; in the Liverpool

Museum.]

_Consular and Official and Private Diptychs._--About fifty of the

remarkable plaques called "consular diptychs," of the time of the three

last centuries of the consulates of the Roman and Greek empire have been

preserved. They range in date from perhaps mid-fourth to mid-sixth

centuries, and as with two or three exceptions the dates are certain it

would be difficult to overestimate their historic or intrinsic value.

The earliest of absolutely certain date is the diptych of Aosta (A.D.

408), the first after the recognition of Christianity; or, if the Monza

diptych represents, as some think, the Consul Stilicon, then we may

refer back six years earlier. At any rate the edict of Theodosius in

A.D. 384, concerning the restriction of the use of ivory to the diptychs

of the regular consuls, is evidence that the custom must have been long

established. According to some authorities the beautiful leaf of diptych

in the Liverpool Museum (fig. 4) is a consular one and to be ascribed to

Marcus Julius Philippus (A.D. 248). Similarly the Gherardesca leaf in

the British Museum may be accepted as of the Consul Marcus Aurelius

(A.D. 308). But the whole question of the half dozen earliest examples

is conjectural. With a few notable exceptions they show decadence in

art. Amongst the finest may be cited the leaf with the combats with

stags at Liverpool, the diptych of Probianus at Berlin and the two

leaves, one of Anastasius, the other of Orestes, in the Victoria and

Albert Museum. The literature concerning these diptychs is voluminous,

from the time of the erudite treatise by Gori published in 1759 to the

present day. The latest of certain date is that of Basilius, consul of

the East in 541, the last of the consuls. The diptychs of private

individuals or of officials number about sixteen, and in the case of the

private ones have a far greater artistic value. Of these the Victoria

and Albert Museum possesses the most beautiful leaf of perhaps the

finest example of ancient ivory sculpture which has come down to us,

diptychon Meleretense, representing a Bacchante (fig. 5). The other

half, which is much injured, is in the Cluny Museum. Other important

pieces are the Aesculapius and Hygeia at Liverpool, the Hippolytus and

Phaedra at Brescia, the Barberini in the Bargello and at Vienna and the

Rufius Probianus at Berlin. Besides the diptychs ancient Greek and Roman

ivories before the recognition of Christianity are comparatively small

in number and are mostly in the great museums of the Vatican, Naples,

the British Museum, the Louvre and the Cluny Museum. Amongst them are

the statuette of Penthea, perhaps of the 3rd century (Cluny), a large

head of a woman (museum of Vienna) and the Bellerophon (British Museum),

nor must those of the Roman occupation in England and other countries be

forgotten. Notable instances are the plaque and ivory mask found at

Caerleon. Others are now in the Guildhall and British Museums, and most

continental European museums have examples connected with their own

history.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Leaf of Roman diptych, representing a Bacchante;

in the Victoria and Albert Museum.]

[Illustration: From photo by W. A. Mansell & Co.

FIG. 6.--Leaf of Diptych, representing Archangel; in the British Museum.]

_Early Christian and Early Byzantine Ivories._--The few examples we

possess of Christian ivories previous to the time of Constantine are not

of great importance from the point of view of the history of art. But

after that date the ivories which we may ascribe to the centuries from

the end of the 4th to at least the end of the 9th become of considerable

interest, on account of their connexion with the development of

Byzantine art in western Europe. With regard to exact origins and dates

opinions are largely divergent. In great part they are due to the

carrying on of traditions and styles by which the makers of the

sarcophagi were inspired, and the difficulties of ascription are

increased when in addition to the primitive elements the influence of

Byzantine systems introduced many new ideas derived from many extraneous

sources. The questions involved are of no small archaeological,

iconographical and artistic importance, but it must be admitted that we

are reduced to conjecture in many cases, and compelled to theorize. And

it would seem to be impossible to be more precise as to dates than

within a margin of sometimes three centuries. Then, again, we are met by

the question how far these ivories are connected with Byzantine art;

whether they were made in the West by immigrant Greeks, or indigenous

works, or purely imported productions. Some German critics have

endeavoured to construct a system of schools, and to form definite

groups, assigning them to Rome, Ravenna, Milan and Monza. Not only so,

but they claim to be precise in dating even to a certain decade of a

century. But it is certainly more than doubtful whether there is

sufficient evidence on which to found such assumptions. It is at least

probable that a considerable number of the ivories whose dates are given

by such a number of critics so wide a range as from the 4th to the 10th

century are nothing more than the work of the monks of the numerous

monasteries founded throughout the Carlovingian empire, copying and

adapting from whatever came into their hands. Many of them were Greek

immigrants exiled at the time of the iconoclastic persecutions. To these

must be added the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon missionaries, who brought with

them and disseminated their own national feeling and technique. We have

to take into account also the relations which existed not only with

Constantinople but also with the great governing provinces of Syria and

Egypt. Where all our information is so vague, and in the face of so much

conflicting opinion amongst authorities, it is not unreasonable to hold

with regard to very many of these ivories that instead of assigning them

to the age of Justinian or even the preceding century we ought rather to

postpone their dating from one to perhaps three centuries later and to

admit that we cannot be precise even within these limits. It would be

impossible to follow here the whole of the arguments relating to this

most important period of the development of ivory sculpture or to

mention a tithe of the examples which illustrate it. Amongst the most

striking the earliest is the very celebrated leaf of a diptych in the

British Museum representing an archangel (fig. 6). It is generally

admitted that we have no ivory of the 5th or 6th centuries or in fact of

any early medieval period which can compare with it in excellence of

design and workmanship. There is no record (it is believed) from whence

the museum obtained the ivory. There are at least plausible grounds for

surmising that it is identical with the "Angelus longus eburneus" of a

book-cover among the books brought to England by St Augustine which is

mentioned in a list of things belonging to Christchurch, Canterbury (see

Dart, _App._ p. xviii.). The dating of the four Passion plaques, also in

the British Museum, varies from the 5th to the 7th century. But although

most recent authorities accept the earlier date, the present writer

holds strongly that they are not anterior to, at earliest, the 7th

century. Even then they will remain, with the exception of the Monza oil

flask and perhaps the St Sabina doors, the earliest known representation

of the crucifixion. The ivory vase, with cover, in the British Museum,

appears to possess defined elements of the farther East, due perhaps to

the relations between Syria and Christian India or Ceylon. Other

important early Christian ivories are the series of pyxes, the diptych

in the treasury of St Ambrogio at Milan, the chair of Maximian at

Ravenna (most important as a type piece), the panel with the "Ascension"

in the Bavarian National Museum, the Brescia casket, the "Lorsch"

bookcovers of the Vatican and Victoria and Albert Museum, the Bodleian

and other bookcovers, the St Paul diptych in the Bargello at Florence

and the "Annunciation" plaque in the Trivulzio collection. So far as

unquestionably oriental specimens of Byzantine art are concerned they

are few in number, but we have in the famous Harbaville triptych in the

Louvre a super-excellent example.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Mirror Case, illustrating the Storming of the

Castle of Love; in the Victoria and Albert Museum.]

_Gothic Ivories._--The most generally charming period of ivory sculpture

is unquestionably that which, coincident with the Gothic revival in art,

marked the beginning of a great and lasting change. The formalism

imposed by Byzantine traditions gave place to a brighter, more delicate

and tenderer conception. This golden age of the ivory carver--at its

best in the 13th century--was still in evidence during the 14th, and

although there is the beginning of a transition in style in the 15th

century, the period of neglect and decadence which set in about the

beginning of the 16th hardly reached the acute stage until well on into

the 17th. To review the various developments both of religious art which

reigned almost alone until the 14th century, or of the secular side as

exemplified in the delightful mirror cases and caskets carved with

subjects from the romantic stories which were so popular, would be

impossible here. Almost every great museum and famous private collection

abounds in examples of the well-known diptychs and triptychs and little

portable oratories of this period. Some, as in a famous panel in the

British Museum, are marvels of minute workmanship, others of delicate

openwork and tracery. Others, again, are remarkable for the wonderful

way in which, in the compass of a few inches, whole histories and

episodes of the scriptural narratives are expressed in the most vivid

and telling manner. Charming above all are the statuettes of the Virgin

and Child which French and Flemish art, especially, have handed down to

us. Of these the Victoria and Albert Museum possesses a representative

collection. Another series of interest is that of the croziers or

pastoral staves, the development of which the student of ivories will be

careful to study in connexion with the earlier ones and the tau-headed

staves. In addition there are shrines, reliquaries, bookcovers,

liturgical combs, portable altars, pyxes, holy water buckets and

sprinklers, _flabella_ or liturgical fans, rosaries, _memento mori_,

paxes, small figures and groups, and almost every conceivable adjunct of

the sanctuary or for private devotion. It is to French or Flemish art

that the greater number and the most beautiful must be referred. At the

same time, to take one example only--the diptych and triptych of Bishop

Grandison in the British Museum--we have evidence that English ivory

carvers were capable of rare excellence of design and workmanship. Nor

can crucifixes be forgotten, though they are of extreme rarity before

the 17th century. A most beautiful 13th-century figure for one--though

only a fragment--is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Amongst secular

objects of this period, besides the mirror cases (fig. 7) and caskets,

there are hunting horns (the earlier ones probably oriental, or more or

less faithfully copied from oriental models), chess and draughtsmen

(especially the curious set from the isle of Lewis), combs, marriage

coffers (at one period remarkable Italian ones of bone), memorandum

tablets, seals, the pommels and cantles of saddles and a unique harp now

in the Louvre. The above enumeration will alone suffice to show that the

inquirer must be referred for details to the numerous works which treat

of medieval ivory sculpture.

_Ivory Sculpture from the 16th to the 19th Century._--Compared with the

wealth of ivory carving of the two preceding centuries, the 15th, and

especially the 16th, centuries are singularly poor in really fine work.

But before we arrive at the period of real decadence we shall come

across such things as the knife of Diana of Poitiers in the Louvre, the

sceptre of Louis XIII., the Rothschild hunting horn, many Italian powder

horns, the German Psyche in the Louvre, or the "Young Girl and Death" in

the Munich Museum, in which there is undoubtedly originality and talent

of the first order. The practice of ivory carving became extremely

popular throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in the

Netherlands and in Germany, and the amount of ivory consumed must have

been very great. But, with rare exceptions, and these for the most part

Flemish, it is art of an inferior kind, which seems to have been

abandoned to second-rate sculptors and the artisans of the workshop.

There is little originality, the rococo styles run riot, and we seem to

be condemned to wade through an interminable series of gods and

goddesses, bacchanalians and satyrs, pseudo-classical copies from the

antique and imitations of the schools of Rubens. As a matter of fact few

great museums, except the German ones, care to include in their

collections examples of these periods. Some exceptions are made in the

case of Flemish sculptors of such talent as François Duquesnoy

(Fiammingo), Gerard van Obstal or Lucas Fayd'herbe. In a lesser degree,

in Germany, Christoph Angermair, Leonhard Kern, Bernhard Strauss,

Elhafen, Kruger and Rauchmiller; and, in France, Jean Guillermin, David

le Marchand and Jean Cavalier. Crucifixes were turned out in enormous

numbers, some of not inconsiderable merit, but, for the most part, they

represent anatomical exercises varying but slightly from a pattern of

which a celebrated one attributed to Faistenberger may be taken as a

type. Tankards abound, and some, notably the one in the Jones

collection, than which perhaps no finer example exists, are also of a

high standard. Duquesnoy's work is well illustrated by the charming

series of six plaques in the Victoria and Albert Museum known as the

"Fiammingo boys." Amongst the crowd of objects in ivory of all

descriptions of the early 18th century, the many examples of the curious

implements known as _rappoirs_, or tobacco graters, should be noticed.

It may perhaps be necessary to add that although the character of art in

ivory in these periods is not of the highest, the subject is not one

entirely unworthy of attention and study, and there are a certain number

of remarkable and even admirable examples.

_Ivory Sculpture of Spain, Portugal, India, China and Japan._--Generally

speaking, with regard to Spain and Portugal, there is little reason to

do otherwise than confine our attention to a certain class of important

Moorish or Hispano-Moresque ivories of the time of the Arab occupation

of the Peninsula, from the 8th to the 15th centuries. Some fine examples

are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Of Portuguese work there is

little except the hybrid productions of Goa and the Portuguese

settlements in the East. Some mention must be made also of the

remarkable examples of mixed Portuguese and savage art from Benin, now

in the British Museum. Of Indian ivory carving the India Museum at

Kensington supplies a very large and varied collection which has no

equal elsewhere. But there is little older than the 17th century, nor

can it be said that Indian art in ivory can occupy a very high place in

the history of the art. What we know of Chinese carving in ivory is

confined to those examples which are turned out for the European market,

and can hardly be considered as appealing very strongly to cultivated

tastes. A brief reference to the well-known delightful _netsukés_ and

the characteristic inlaid work must suffice here for the ivories of

Japan (see JAPAN: _Art_).

_Ivory Sculpture in the 19th Century and of the Present Day._--Few

people are aware of the extent to which modern ivory sculpture is

practised by distinguished artists. Year by year, however, a certain

amount is exhibited in the Royal Academy and in most foreign salons, but

in England the works--necessarily not very numerous--are soon absorbed

in private collections. On the European continent, on the contrary, in

such galleries as the Belgian state collections or the Luxembourg,

examples are frequently acquired and exhibited. In Belgium the

acquisition of the Congo and the considerable import of ivory therefrom

gave encouragement to a definite revival of the art. Important

exhibitions have been held in Belgium, and a notable one in Paris in

1904. Though ivory carving is as expensive as marble sculpture, all

sculptors delight in following it, and the material entails no special

knowledge or training. Of 19th-century artists there were in France

amongst the best known, besides numerous minor workers of Dieppe and St

Claude, Augustin Moreau, Vautier, Soitoux, Belleteste, Meugniot,

Pradier, Triqueti and Gerôme; and in the first decade of the 20th

century, besides such distinguished names in the first rank as Jean

Dampt and Théodore Rivière, there were Vever, Gardet, Caron, Barrias,

Allouard, Ferrary and many others. Nor must the decorative work of René

Lalique be omitted. No less than forty Belgian sculptors exhibited work

in ivory at the Brussels exhibition of 1887. The list included artists

of such distinction as J. Dillens, Constantin Meunier, van der Stappen,

Khnopff, P. Wolfers, Samuel and Paul de Vigne, and amongst contemporary

Belgian sculptors are also van Beurden, G. Devreese, Vincotte, de Tombay

and Lagae. In England the most notable work includes the "Lamia" of

George Frampton, the "St Elizabeth" of Alfred Gilbert, the "Mors Janua

Vitae" of Harry Bates, the "Launcelot" of W. Reynolds-Stephens and the

use of ivory in the applied arts by Lynn Jenkins, A. G. Walker,

Alexander Fisher and others.

AUTHORITIES.--See generally A. Maskell, _Ivories_ (1906), and the

bibliography there given.

On Early Christian and Early Byzantine ivories, the following works

may be mentioned: Abbé Cabrol, _Dictionnaire de l'archéologie

chrétienne_ (in progress); O. M. Dalton, _Catalogue of Early Christian

Antiquities in British Museum_ (1902); E. Dobbert, _Zur Geschichte der

Elfenbeinsculptur_ (1885); H. Graeven, _Antike Schnitzereien_ (1903);

R. Kanzler, _Gli avori ... Vaticana_ (1903); Kondakov, _L'Art

byzantin_; A. Maskell, _Cantor Lectures_, Soc. of Arts (1906) (lecture

II., "Early Christian and Early Byzantine Ivories"); Strzygowski,

_Byzantinische Denkmäler_ (1891); V. Schulze, _Archäologie der

altchristlichen Kunst_ (1895); G. Stuhlfauth, _Die altchristl.

Elfenbeinplastik_ (1896).

On the consular diptychs, see H. F. Clinton, _Fasti Romani_

(1845-1850); A. Gori, _Thesaurus veterum diptychorum_ (1759); C.

Lenormant, _Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique_ (1834-1846); F.

Pulszky, _Catalogue of the Féjérváry Ivories_ (1856).

On the artistic interest generally, see also C. Alabaster, _Catalogue

of Chinese Objects in the South Kensington Museum_; Sir R. Alcock,

_Art and Art Industries in Japan_ (1878); Barraud et Martin, _Le Bâton

pastoral_ (1856); Bouchot, _Les Reliures d'art à la Bibliothèque

Nationale_; Bretagne, _Sur les peignes liturgiques_; H. Cole, _Indian

Art at Delhi_ (1904); R. Garrucci, _Storia dell' arte Christiana_

(1881); A. Jacquemart, _Histoire du mobilier_ (1876); J. Labarte,

_Histoire des arts industriels_ (1864); C. Lind, _Über den Krummstab_

(1863); Sir F. Madden, "Lewis Chessmen" (in _Archaeologia_, vol. xxiv.

1832); W. Maskell, _Ivories, Ancient and Medieval in the South

Kensington Museum_ (1872); A. Michel, _Histoire de l'art_; E.

Molinier, _Histoire générale des arts_ (1896); E. Oldfield, _Catalogue

of Fictile Ivories sold by the Arundel Society_ (1855); A. H. Pitt

Rivers, _Antique Works of Art from Benin_ (1900); A. C. Quatremère de

Quincy, _Le Jupiter Olympien_ (1815); Charles Scherer,

_Elfenbeinplastik seit der Renaissance_ (1903); E. du Sommerard, _Les

Arts au moyen âge_ (1838-1846); G. Stephens, _Runic Caskets_

(1866-1868); A. Venturi, _Storia dell' arte Italiana_ (1901); Sir G.

Watt, _Indian Art at Delhi_ (1904); J. O. Westwood, _Fictile Ivories

in the South Kensington Museum_ (1876). Sir M. D. Wyatt, _Notices of

Sculpture in Ivory_ (1856). (A. Ml.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Lecture before the Society of Arts (1856).

IVORY COAST (_Côte d'Ivoire_), a French West African colony, bounded S.

by the Gulf of Guinea, W. by Liberia and French Guinea, N. by the colony

of Upper Senegal and Niger, E. by the Gold Coast. Its area is

approximately 120,000 sq. m., and its population possibly 2,000,000, of

whom some 600 are Europeans. Official estimates (1908) placed the native

population as low as 980,000.

_Physical Features._--The coast-line extends from 70° 30´ to 3° 7´ W.

and has a length of 380 m. It forms an arc of a circle of which the

convexity turns slightly to the north; neither bay nor promontory

breaks the regularity of its outline. The shore is low, bordered in

its eastern half with lagoons, and difficult of access on account of

the submarine bar of sand which stretches along nearly the whole of

the coast, and also because of the heavy surf caused by the great

Atlantic billows. The principal lagoons, going W. to E. are those of

Grand Lahou, Grand Bassam or Ebrié and Assini. The coast plains extend

inland about 40 m. Beyond the ground rises in steep slopes to a

general level of over 1000 ft., the plateau being traversed in several

directions by hills rising 2000 ft. and over, and cut by valleys with

a general south-eastern trend. In the north-east, in the district of

Kong (q.v.), the country becomes mountainous, Mt. Kommono attaining a

height of 4757 ft. In the north-west, by the Liberian frontier, the

mountains in the Gon region rise over 6000 ft. Starting from the

Liberian frontier, the chief rivers are the Cavalla (or Kavalli), the

San Pedro, the Sassandra (240 m. long), the Bandama (225 m.), formed

by the White and the Red Bandama, the Komoe (360 m.) and the Bia. All

these streams are interrupted by rapids as they descend from the

highlands to the plain and are unnavigable by steamers save for a few

miles from their mouths. The rivers named all drain to the Gulf of

Guinea; the rivers in the extreme north of the colony belong to the

Niger system, being affluents of the Bani or Mahel Balevel branch of

that river. The watershed runs roughly from 9° N. in the west to 10°

N. in the east, and is marked by a line of hills rising about 650 ft.

above the level of the plateau. The climate is in general very hot and

unhealthy, the rainfall being very heavy. In some parts of the plateau

healthier conditions prevail. The fauna and flora are similar to those

of the Gold Coast and Liberia. Primeval forest extends from the coast

plains to about 8° N., covering nearly 50,000 sq. m.

_Inhabitants._--The coast districts are inhabited by Negro tribes allied

on the one hand to the Krumen (q.v.) and on the other to the people of

Ashanti (q.v.). The Assinis are of Ashanti origin, and chiefly of the

Ochin and Agni tribes. Farther west are found the "Jack-Jacks" and the

"Kwa-Kwas," sobriquets given respectively to the Aradian and Avikom by

the early European traders. The Kwa-Kwa are said to be so called because

their salutation "resembles the cry of a duck." In the interior the

Negro strain predominates but with an admixture of Hamitic or Berber

blood. The tribes represented include Jamans, Wongaras and Mandingos

(q.v.), some of whom are Moslems. The Mandingos have intermarried

largely with the Bambara or Sienuf, an agricultural people of more than

average intelligence widely spread over the country, of which they are

considered to be the indigenous race. The Bambara themselves are perhaps

only a distinct branch of the original Mandingo stock. The Baulé, who

occupy the central part of the colony, are of Agni-Ashanti origin. The

bulk of the inhabitants are fetish worshippers. On the northern confines

of the great forest belt live races of cannibals, whose existence was

first made known by Captain d'Ollone in 1899. In general the coast

tribes are peaceful. They have the reputation of being neither

industrious nor intelligent. The traders are chiefly Fanti, Sierra

Leonians, Senegalese and Mandingos.

_Towns._--The chief towns on the coast are Grand and Little Bassam,

Jackville and Assini in the east and Grand Lahou, Sassandra and Tabu

in the west. Grand and Little Bassam are built on the strip of sand

which separates the Grand Bassam or Ebrié lagoon from the sea. This

lagoon forms a commodious harbour, once the bar has been crossed.

Grand Bassam is situated at the point where the lagoon and the river

Komoe enter the sea and there is a minimum depth of 12 ft. of water

over the bar. The town (pop. 5000, including about 100 Europeans) is

the seat of the customs administration and of the judicial department,

and is the largest centre for the trade of the colony. A wharf

equipped with cranes extends beyond the surf line and the town is

served by a light railway. It is notoriously unhealthy; yellow fever

is endemic. Little Bassam, renamed by the French Port Bouet, possesses

an advantage over the other ports on the coast, as at this point there

is no bar. The sea floor is here rent by a chasm, known as the

"Bottomless Pit," the waters having a depth of 65 ft. Abijean

(Abidjan), on the north side of the lagoon opposite Port Bouet is the

starting-point of a railway to the oil and rubber regions. The

half-mile of foreshore separating the port from the lagoon was in

1904-1907 pierced by a canal, but the canal silted up as soon as cut,

and in 1908 the French decided to make Grand Bassam the chief port of

the colony. Assini is an important centre for the rubber trade of

Ashanti. On the northern shore of the Bassam lagoon, and 19 m. from

Grand Bassam, is the capital of the colony, the native name Adjame

having been changed into Bingerville, in honour of Captain L. G.

Binger (see below). The town is built on a hill and is fairly healthy.

In the interior are several towns, though none of any size

numerically. The best known are Koroko, Kong and Bona, entrepôts for

the trade of the middle Niger, and Bontuku, on the caravan route to

Sokoto and the meeting-place of the merchants from Kong and Timbuktu

engaged in the kola-nut trade with Ashanti and the Gold Coast. Bontuku

is peopled largely by Wongara and Hausa, and most of the inhabitants,

who number some 3000, are Moslems. The town, which was founded in the

15th century or earlier, is walled, contains various mosques and

generally presents the appearance of an eastern city.

_Agriculture and Trade._--The natives cultivate maize, plantains,

bananas, pineapples, limes, pepper, cotton, &c., and live easily on

the products of their gardens, with occasional help from fishing and

hunting. They also weave cloth, make pottery and smelt iron. Europeans

introduced the cultivation of coffee, which gives good results. The

forests are rich in palm-tree products, rubber and mahogany, which

constitute the chief articles of export. The rubber goes almost

exclusively to England, as does also the mahogany. The palm-oil and

palm kernels are sent almost entirely to France. The value of the

external trade of the colony exceeded £1,000,000 for the first time in

1904. About 50% of the trade is with Great Britain. The export of

ivory, for which the country was formerly famous, has almost ceased,

the elephants being largely driven out of the colony. Cotton goods, by

far the most important of the imports, come almost entirely from Great

Britain. Gold exists and many native villages have small "placer"

mines. In 1901 the government of the colony began the granting of

mining concessions, in which British capital was largely invested.

There are many ancient mines in the country, disused since the close

of the 18th century, if not earlier.

_Communications._--The railway from Little Bassam serves the east

central part of the colony and runs to Katiola, in Kong, a total

distance of 250 m. The line is of metre gauge. The cutting of two

canals, whereby communication is effected by lagoon between Assini and

Grand Lahou via Bassam, followed the construction of the railway.

Grand and Little Bassam are in regular communication by steamer with

Bordeaux, Marseilles, Liverpool, Antwerp and Hamburg. Grand Bassam is

connected with Europe by submarine cable via Dakar. Telegraph lines

connect the coast with all the principal stations in the interior,

with the Gold Coast, and with the other French colonies in West

Africa.

_Administration, &c._--The colony is under the general superintendence

of the government general of French West Africa. At the head of the

local administration is a lieutenant-governor, who is assisted by a

council on which nominated unofficial members have seats. To a large

extent the native forms of government are maintained under European

administrators responsible for the preservation of order, the colony

for this purpose being divided into a number of "circles" each with

its local government. The colony has a separate budget and is

self-supporting. Revenue is derived chiefly from customs receipts and

a capitation tax of frs. 2.50 (2s.), instituted in 1901 and levied on

all persons over ten years old. The budget for 1906 balanced at

£120,400.

_History._--The Ivory Coast is stated to have been visited by Dieppe

merchants in the 14th century, and was made known by the Portuguese

discoveries towards the end of the 15th century. It was thereafter

frequented by traders for ivory, slaves and other commodities. There was

a French settlement at Assini, 1700-1704, and a French factory was

maintained at Grand Bassam from 1700 to 1707. In the early part of the

19th century several French traders had established themselves along the

coast. In 1830 Admiral (then Commandant) Bouët-Willaumez (1808-1871)

began a series of surveys and expeditions which yielded valuable

results. In 1842 he obtained from the native chiefs cessions of

territory at Assini and Grand Bassam to France and the towns named were

occupied in 1843. From that time French influence gradually extended

along the coast, but no attempt was made to penetrate inland. As one

result of the Franco-Prussian War, France in 1872 withdrew her

garrisons, handing over the care of the establishments to a merchant

named Verdier, to whom an annual subsidy of £800 was paid. This merchant

sent an agent into the interior who made friendly treaties between

France and some of the native chiefs. In 1883, in view of the claims of

other European powers to territory in Africa, France again took over the

actual administration of Assini and Bassam. Between 1887 and 1889

Captain Binger (an officer of marine infantry, and subsequently director

of the African department at the colonial ministry) traversed the whole

region between the coast and the Niger, visited Bontuku and the Kong

country, and signed protectorate treaties with the chiefs. The kingdom

of Jaman, it may be mentioned, was for a few months included in the Gold

Coast hinterland. In January 1889 a British mission sent by the governor

of the Gold Coast concluded a treaty with the king of Jaman at Bontuku,

placing his dominions under British protection. The king had, however,

previously concluded treaties of "commerce and friendship" with the

French, and by the Anglo-French agreement of August 1889 Jaman, with

Bontuku, was recognized as French territory. In 1892 Captain Binger made

further explorations in the interior of the Ivory Coast, and in 1893 he

was appointed the first governor of the colony on its erection into an

administration distinct from that of Senegal. Among other famous

explorers who helped to make known the hinterland was Colonel (then

Captain) Marchand. It was to the zone between the Kong states and the

hinterland of Liberia that Samory (see SENEGAL) fled for refuge before

he was taken prisoner (1898), and for a short time he was master of

Kong. The boundary of the colony on the west was settled by

Franco-Liberian agreements of 1892 and subsequent dates; that on the

east by the Anglo-French agreements of 1893 and 1898. The northern

boundary was fixed in 1899 on the division of the middle Niger

territories (up to that date officially called the French Sudan) among

the other French West African colonies. The systematic development of

the colony, the opening up of the hinterland and the exploitation of its

economic resources date from the appointment of Captain Binger as

governor, a post he held for over three years. The work he began has

been carried on zealously and effectively by subsequent governors, who

have succeeded in winning the co-operation of the natives.

In the older books of travel are often found the alternative names for

this region, Tooth Coast (_Côte des Dents_) or Kwa-Kwa Coast, and, less

frequently, the Coast of the Five and Six Stripes (alluding to a kind of

cotton fabric in favour with the natives). The term Côte des Dents

continued in general use in France until the closing years of the 19th

century.

See _Dix ans à la Côte d'Ivoire_ (Paris, 1906) by F. J. Clozel,

governor of the colony, and _Notre colonie de la Côte d'Ivoire_

(Paris, 1903) by R. Villamur and Richaud. These two volumes deal with

the history, geography, zoology and economic condition of the Ivory

Coast. _La Côte d'Ivoire_ by Michellet and Clement describes the

administrative and land systems, &c. Another volume also called _La

Côte d'Ivoire_ (Paris, 1908) is an official monograph on the colony.

For ethnology consult _Coutumes indigènes de la Côte d'Ivoire_ (Paris,

1902) by F. J. Clozel and R. Villamur, and _Les Coutumes Agni_, by R.

Villamur and Delafosse. Of books of travel see _Du Niger au Golfe de

Guinée par Kong_ (Paris, 1892) by L. G. Binger, and _Mission

Hostains-d'Ollone 1890-1900_ (Paris, 1901) by Captain d'Ollone. A

_Carte de la Côte d'Ivoire_ by A. Meunier, on the scale of 1:500,000

(6 sheets), was published in Paris, 1905. Annual reports on the colony

are published by the French colonial and the British foreign offices.

IVREA (anc. _Eporedia_), a town and episcopal see of Piedmont, Italy, in

the province of Turin, from which it is 38 m. N.N.E. by rail and 27 m.

direct, situated 770 ft. above sea-level, on the Dora Baltea at the

point where it leaves the mountains. Pop. (1901) 6047 (town), 11,696

(commune). The cathedral was built between 973 and 1005; the gallery

round the back of the apse and the crypt have plain cubical capitals of

this period. The two _campanili_ flanking the apse at each end of the

side aisle are the oldest example of this architectural arrangement. The

isolated tower, which is all that remains of the ancient abbey of S.

Stefano, is slightly later. The hill above the town is crowned by the

imposing Castello delle Quattro Torri, built in 1358, and now a prison.

One of the four towers was destroyed by lightning in 1676. A tramway

runs to Santhià.

The ancient Eporedia, standing at the junction of the roads from Augusta

Taurinorum and Vercellae, at the point where the road to Augusta

Praetoria enters the narrow valley of the Duria (Dora Baltea), was a

military position of considerable importance belonging to the Salassi

who inhabited the whole upper valley of the Duria. The importance of the

gold-mines of the district led to its seizure by the Romans in 143 B.C.

The centre of the mining industry seems to have been Victumulae (see

TICINUM), until in 100 B.C. a colony of Roman citizens was founded at

Eporedia itself; but the prosperity of this was only assured when the

Salassi were finally defeated in 25 B.C. and Augusta Praetoria founded.

There are remains of a theatre of the time of the Antonines and the

Ponte Vecchio rests on Roman foundations.

In the middle ages Ivrea was the capital of a Lombard duchy, and later

of a marquisate; both Berengar II. (950) and Arduin (1002) became kings

of Italy for a short period. Later it submitted to the marquises of

Monferrato, and in the middle of the 14th century passed to the house of

Savoy. (T. As.)

IVRY-SUR-SEINE, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine,

near the left bank of the Seine, less than 1 m. S.S.E. of the

fortifications of Paris. Pop. (1906) 30,532. Ivry has a large hospital

for incurables. It manufactures organs, earthenware, wall-paper and

rubber, and has engineering works, breweries, and oil-works, its trade

being facilitated by a port on the Seine. The town is dominated by a

fort of the older line of defence of Paris.

IVY (A.S. _ifig_, Ger. _Epheu_, perhaps connected with _apium_, [Greek:

apion]), the collective designation of certain species and varieties of

_Hedera_, a member of the natural order Araliaceae. There are fifty

species of ivy recorded in modern books, but they may be reduced to two,

or at the most, three. The European ivy, _Hedera Helix_ (fig. 1), is a

plant subject to infinite variety in the forms and colours of its

leaves, but the tendency of which is always to a three- to five-lobed

form when climbing and a regular ovate form of leaf when producing

flower and fruit. The African ivy, _H. canariensis_, often regarded as a

variety of _H. Helix_ and known as the Irish ivy, is a native of North

Africa and the adjacent islands. It is the common large-leaved climbing

ivy, and also varies, but in a less degree than _H. Helix_, from which

its leaves differ in their larger size, rich deep green colour, and a

prevailing tendency to a five-lobed outline. When in fruit the leaves

are usually three-lobed, but they are sometimes entire and broadly

ovate. The Asiatic ivy, _H. colchica_ (fig. 2), now considered to be a

form of _H. Helix_, has ovate, obscurely three-lobed leaves of a

coriaceous texture and a deep green colour; in the tree or fruiting form

the leaves are narrower than in the climbing form, and without any trace

of lobes. Distinctive characters are also to be found in the appendages

of the pedicels and calyx, _H. Helix_ having six-rayed stellate hairs,

_H. canariensis_ fifteen-rayed hairs and _H. colchica_ yellowish

two-lobed scales.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Ivy (_Hedera Helix_) fruiting branch. 1. Flower.

2. Fruit.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--_Hedera colchica._]

The Australian ivy, _H. australiana_, is a small glabrous shrub with

pinnate leaves. It is a native of Queensland, and is practically unknown

in cultivation.

It is of the utmost importance to note the difference of characters of

the same species of ivy in its two conditions of climbing and fruiting.

The first stage of growth, which we will suppose to be from the seed, is

essentially scandent, and the leaves are lobed more or less. This stage

is accompanied with a plentiful production of the claspers or modified

roots by means of which the plant becomes attached and obtains support.

When it has reached the summit of the tree or tower, the stems, being no

longer able to maintain a perpendicular attitude, fall over and become

horizontal or pendent. Coincidently with this change they cease to

produce claspers, and the leaves are strikingly modified in form, being

now narrower and less lobed than on the ascending stems. In due time

this tree-like growth produces terminal umbels of greenish flowers,

which have the parts in fives, with the styles united into a very short

one. These flowers are succeeded by smooth black or yellow berries,

containing two to five seeds. The yellow-berried ivy is met with in

northern India and in Italy, but in northern Europe it is known only as

a curiosity of the garden, where, if sufficiently sheltered and

nourished, it becomes an exceedingly beautiful and fruitful tree.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Climbing Shoot of Ivy.]

It is stated in books that some forms of sylvestral ivy never flower,

but a negative declaration of this kind is valueless. Sylvestral ivies

of great age may be found in woods on the western coasts of Britain that

have apparently never flowered, but this is probably to be explained by

their inability to surmount the trees supporting them, for until the

plant can spread its branches horizontally in full daylight, the

flowering or tree-like growth is never formed.

A question of great practical importance arises out of the relation of

the plant to its means of support. A moderate growth of ivy is not

injurious to trees; still the tendency is from the first inimical to the

prosperity of the tree, and at a certain stage it becomes deadly.

Therefore the growth of ivy on trees should be kept within reasonable

bounds, more especially in the case of trees that are of special value

for their beauty, history, or the quality of their timber. In regard to

buildings clothed with ivy, there is nothing to be feared so long as the

plant does not penetrate the substance of the wall by means of any

fissure. Should it thrust its way in, the natural and continuous

expansion of its several parts will necessarily hasten the decay of the

edifice. But a fair growth of ivy on sound walls that afford no entrance

beyond the superficial attachment of the claspers is, without any

exception whatever, beneficial. It promotes dryness and warmth, reduces

to a minimum the corrosive action of the atmosphere, and is altogether

as conservative as it is beautiful.

The economical uses of the ivy are not of great importance. The leaves

are eaten greedily by horses, deer, cattle and sheep, and in times of

scarcity have proved useful. The flowers afford a good supply of honey

to bees; and, as they appear in autumn, they occasionally make amends

for the shortcomings of the season. The berries are eaten by wood

pigeons, blackbirds and thrushes. From all parts of the plant a balsamic

bitter may be obtained, and this in the form of _hederic acid_ is the

only preparation of ivy known to chemists.

In the garden the uses of the ivy are innumerable, and the least known

though not the least valuable of them is the cultivation of the plant as

a bush or tree, the fruiting growth being selected for this purpose. The

variegated tree forms of _H. Helix_, with leaves of creamy white, golden

green or rich deep orange yellow, soon prove handsome miniature trees,

that thrive almost as well in smoky town gardens as in the pure air of

the country, and that no ordinary winter will injure in the least. The

tree-form of the Asiatic ivy (_H. colchica_) is scarcely to be equalled

in beauty of leafage by any evergreen shrub known to English gardens,

and, although in the course of a few years it will attain to a stature

of 5 or 6 ft., it is but rarely we meet with it, or indeed with tree

ivies of any kind, but little attention having been given to this

subject until recent years. The scandent forms are more generally

appreciated, and are now much employed in the formation of marginal

lines, screens and trained pyramids, as well as for clothing walls. A

very striking example of the capabilities of the commonest ivies, when

treated artistically as garden plants, may be seen in the Zoological

Gardens of Amsterdam, where several paddocks are enclosed with wreaths,

garlands and bands of ivy in a most picturesque manner.

About sixty varieties known in gardens are figured and described in _The

Ivy, a Monograph_, by Shirley Hibberd (1872). To cultivate these is an

extremely simple matter, as they will thrive in a poor soil and endure a

considerable depth of shade, so that they may with advantage be planted

under trees. The common Irish ivy is often to be seen clothing the

ground beneath large yew trees where grass would not live, and it is

occasionally planted in graveyards in London to form an imitation of

grass turf, for which purpose it is admirably suited.

The ivy, like the holly, is a scarce plant on the American continent. In

the northern United States and British America the winters are not more

severe than the ivy can endure, but the summers are too hot and dry, and

the requirements of the plant have not often obtained attention. In

districts where native ferns abound the ivy will be found to thrive, and

the varieties of _Hedera Helix_ should have the preference. But in the

drier districts ivies might often be planted on the north side of

buildings, and, if encouraged with water and careful training for three

or four years, would then grow rapidly and train themselves. A strong

light is detrimental to the growth of ivy, but this enhances its value,

for we have no hardy plants that may be compared with it for variety and

beauty that will endure shade with equal patience.

The North American poison ivy (poison oak), _Rhus Toxicodendron_ (nat.

order Anacardiaceae), is a climber with pinnately compound leaves, which

are very attractive in their autumn colour but poisonous to the touch to

some persons, while others can handle the plant without injury. The

effects are redness and violent itching followed by fever and a

vesicular eruption.

The ground ivy, _Nepeta Glechoma_ (nat. order Labiatae), is a small

creeping plant with rounded crenate leaves and small blue-purple

flowers, occurring in hedges and thickets.

IWAKURA, TOMOMI, PRINCE (1835-1883), Japanese statesman, was born in

Kioto. He was one of the court nobles (_kuge_) of Japan, and he traced

his descent to the emperor Murakami (A.D. 947-967). A man of profound

ability and singular force of character, he acted a leading part in the

complications preceding the fall of the Tokugawa _shogunate_, and was

obliged to fly from Kioto accompanied by his coadjutor, Prince Sanjo.

They took refuge with the _Daimyo_ of Choshu, and, while there,

established relations which contributed greatly to the ultimate union of

the two great fiefs, Satsuma and Choshu, for the work of the

Restoration. From 1867 until the day of his death Iwakura was one of the

most prominent figures on the political stage. In 1871 he proceeded to

America and Europe at the head of an imposing embassy of some fifty

persons, the object being to explain to foreign governments the actual

conditions existing in Japan, and to pave the way for negotiating new

treaties consistent with her sovereign rights. Little success attended

the mission. Returning to Japan in 1873, Iwakura found the cabinet

divided as to the manner of dealing with Korea's insulting attitude. He

advocated peace, and his influence carried the day, thus removing a

difficulty which, though apparently of minor dimensions, might have

changed the whole course of Japan's modern history.

IXION, in Greek legend, son of Phlegyas, king of the Lapithae in

Thessaly (or of Ares), and husband of Dia. According to custom he

promised his father-in-law, Deïoneus, a handsome bridal present, but

treacherously murdered him when he claimed the fulfilment of the

promise. As a punishment, Ixion was seized with madness, until Zeus

purified him of his crime and admitted him as a guest to Olympus. Ixion

abused his pardon by trying to seduce Hera; but the goddess substituted

for herself a cloud, by which he became the father of the Centaurs. Zeus

bound him on a fiery wheel, which rolls unceasingly through the air or

(according to the later version) in the underworld (Pindar, _Pythia_,

ii. 21; Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 461; Virgil, Aeneid, vi. 601). Ixion is

generally taken to represent the eternally moving sun. Another

explanation connects the story with the practice (among certain peoples

of central Europe) of carrying a blazing, revolving wheel through fields

which needed the heat of the sun, the legend being invented to explain

the custom and subsequently adopted by the Greeks (see Mannhardt, _Wald-

und Feldkulte_, ii. 1905, p. 83). In view of the fact that the oak was

the sun-god's tree and that the mistletoe grew upon it, it is suggested

by A. B. Cook (_Class. Rev._ xvii. 420) that [Greek: Ixiôn] is derived

from [Greek: ixos] (mistletoe), the sun's fire being regarded as an

emanation from the mistletoe. Ixion himself is probably a by-form of

Zeus (Usener in _Rhein. Mus._ liii. 345).

"The Myth of Ixion" (by C. Smith, in _Classical Review_, June 1895)

deals with the subject of a red-figure cantharus in the British

Museum.

IXTACCIHUATL, or IZTACCIHUATL ("white woman"), a lofty mountain of

volcanic origin, 10 m. N. of Popocatepetl and about 40 m. S.S.E of the

city of Mexico, forming part of the short spur called the Sierra Nevada.

According to Angelo Heilprin (1853-1907) its elevation is 16,960 ft.;

other authorities make it much less. Its apparent height is dwarfed

somewhat by its elongated summit and the large area covered. It has

three summits of different heights standing on a north and south line,

the central one being the largest and highest and all three rising above

the permanent snow-line. As seen from the city of Mexico the three

summits have the appearance of a shrouded human figure, hence the poetic

Aztec appellation of "white woman" and the unsentimental Spanish

designation "_La mujer gorda_." The ascent is difficult and perilous,

and is rarely accomplished.

Heilprin says that the mountain is largely composed of trachytic rocks

and that it is older than Popocatepetl. It has no crater and no trace

of lingering volcanic heat. It is surmised that its crater, if it ever

had one, has been filled in and its cone worn away by erosion through

long periods of time.

IYRCAE, an ancient nation on the north-east trade route described by

Herodotus (iv. 22) beyond the Thyssagetae, somewhere about the upper

basins of the Tobol and the Irtysh. They were distinguished by their

mode of hunting, climbing a tree to survey their game, and then pursuing

it with trained horses and dogs. They were almost certainly the

ancestors of the modern Magyars, also called Jugra.

The reading [Greek: Tyrkai] is an anachronism, and when Pliny (_N.H._

vi. 19) and Mela (i. 116) speak of Tyrcae it is also probably due to a

false correction. (E. H. M.)

IZBARTA, or SPARTA [anc. _Baris_], the chief town of the Hamid-abad

sanjak of the Konia vilayet, in Asia Minor, well situated on the edge of

a fertile plain at the foot of Aghlasun Dagh. It was once the capital of

the Emirate of Hamid. It suffered severely from the earthquake of the

16th-17th of January 1889. It is a prosperous place with an enlightened

Greek element in its population (hence the numerous families called

"Spartali" in Levantine towns); and it is, in fact, the chief inland

colony of Hellenism in Anatolia; Pop. 20,000 (Moslems 13,000, Christians

7000). The new Aidin railway extends from Dineir to Izbarta via Buldur.

IZHEVSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Vyatka, 140 m. S.W. of

Perm and 22 m. W. from the Kama, on the Izh river. Pop. (1897) 21,500.

It has one of the principal steel and rifle works of the Russian crown,

started in 1807. The making of sporting guns is an active industry.

IZMAIL, or ISMAIL, a town of Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, on

the left bank of the Kilia branch of the Danube, 35 m. below Reni

railway station. Pop. (1866) 31,779, (1900) 33,607, comprising Great and

Little Russians, Bulgarians, Jews and Gipsies. There are flour-mills and

a trade in cereals, wool, tallow and hides. Originally a Turkish

fortified post, Izmail had by the end of the 18th century grown into a

place of 30,000 inhabitants. It was occupied by the Russians in 1770,

and twenty years later its capture was one of the brilliant achievements

of the Russian general, Count A. V. Suvarov. On that occasion the

garrison was 40,000 strong, and the assault cost the assailants 10,000

and the defenders 30,000 men. The victory was the theme of one of the

Russian poet G. R. Derzhavin's odes. In 1809 the town was again captured

by the Russians; and, when in 1812 it was assigned to them by the

Bucharest peace, they chose it as the central station for their Danube

fleet. It was about this time that the town of Tuchkov, with which it

was later (1830) incorporated, grew up outside of the fortifications.

These were dismantled in accordance with the treaty of Paris (1856), by

which Izmail was made over to Rumania. The town was again transferred to

Russia by the peace of Berlin (1878).

IZU-NO-SHICHI-TO, the seven (_shichi_) islands (_to_) of Izu, included

in the empire of Japan. They stretch in a southerly direction from a

point near the mouth of Tokyo Bay, and lie between 33° and 34° 48´ N.

and between 139° and 140° E. Their names, beginning from the north, are

Izu-no-Oshima, To-shima, Nii-shima, Kozu-shima, Miyake-shima and

Hachijo-shima. There are some islets in their immediate vicinity.

Izu-no-Oshima, an island 10 m. long and 5½ m. wide, is 15 m. from the

nearest point of the Izu promontory. It is known to western

cartographers as Vries Island, a name derived from that of Captain

Martin Gerritsz de Vries, a Dutch navigator, who is supposed to have

discovered the island in 1643. But the group was known to the Japanese

from a remote period, and used as convict settlements certainly from the

12th century and probably from a still earlier era. Hachijo, the most

southerly, is often erroneously written "Fatsisio" on English charts.

Izu-no-Oshima is remarkable for its smoking volcano, Mihara-yama (2461

ft.), a conspicuous object to all ships bound for Yokohama. Three others

of the islands--Nii-shima, Kozu-shima and Miyake-shima--have active

volcanoes. Those on Nii-shima and Kozu-shima are of inconsiderable size,

but that on Miyake-shima, namely, Oyama, rises to a height of 2707 ft.

The most southerly island, Hachijo-shima, has a still higher peak,

Dsubotake (2838 ft.), but it does not emit any smoke.

J A letter of the alphabet which, as far as form is concerned, is only a

modification of the Latin I and dates back with a separate value only to

the 15th century. It was first used as a special form of initial I, the

ordinary form being kept for use in other positions. As, however, in

many cases initial _i_ had the consonantal value of the English _y_ in

_iugum_ (yoke), &c., the symbol came to be used for the value of y, a

value which it still retains in German: _Ja! jung_, &c. Initially it is

pronounced in English as an affricate _dzh_. The great majority of

English words beginning with _j_ are (1) of foreign (mostly French)

origin, as "jaundice," "judge"; (2) imitative of sound, like "jar" (the

verb); or (3) influenced by analogy, like "jaw" (influenced by _chaw_,

according to Skeat). In early French _g_ when palatalized by _e_ or _i_

sounds became confused with consonantal _i_ (_y_), and both passed into

the sound of _j_ which is still preserved in English. A similar

sound-change takes place in other languages, e.g. Lithuanian, where the

resulting sound is spelt _dz_. Modern French and also Provençal and

Portuguese have changed _j = dzh_ into _z_ (_zh_). The sound initially

is sometimes represented in English by _g_: _gem_, _gaol_ as well as

_jail_. At the end of modern English words the same sound is represented

by -_dge_ as in _judge_, French _juge_. In this position, however, the

sound occurs also in genuine English words like _bridge_, _sedge_,

_singe_, but this is true only for the southern dialects on which the

literary language is founded. In the northern dialects the pronunciation

as _brig_, _seg_, _sing_ still survives. (P. Gi.)

JA'ALIN (from _Ja'al_, to settle, i.e. "the squatters"), an African

tribe of Semitic stock. They formerly occupied the country on both banks

of the Nile from Khartum to Abu Hamed. They claim to be of the Koreish

tribe and even trace descent from Abbas, uncle of the prophet. They are

of Arab origin, but now of very mixed blood. According to their own

tradition they emigrated to Nubia in the 12th century. They were at one

time subject to the Funj kings, but their position was in a measure

independent. At the Egyptian invasion in 1820 they were the most

powerful of Arab tribes in the Nile valley. They submitted at first, but

in 1822 rebelled and massacred the Egyptian garrison at Shendi. The

revolt was mercilessly suppressed, and the Ja'alin were thenceforward

looked on with suspicion. They were almost the first of the northern

tribes to join the mahdi in 1884, and it was their position to the north

of Khartum which made communication with General Gordon so difficult.

The Ja'alin are now a semi-nomad agricultural people. Many are employed

in Khartum as servants, scribes and watchmen. They are a proud religious

people, formerly notorious as cruel slave dealers. J. L. Burckhardt says

the true Ja'alin from the eastern desert is exactly like the Bedouin of

eastern Arabia.

See _The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan_, edited by Count Gleichen (London,

1905).

JABIRU, according to Marcgrave the Brazilian name of a bird, subsequently

called by Linnaeus _Mycteria americana_, one of the largest of the

storks, _Ciconiidae_, which occurs from Mexico southwards to the

territory of the Argentine Republic. It stands between 4 and 5 ft. in

height, and is conspicuous for its massive bill, slightly upturned, and

its entirely white plumage; but the head and neck are bare and black,

except for about the lower third part of the latter, which is bright red

in the living bird. Very nearly allied to _Mycteria_, and also commonly

called jabirus, are the birds of the genera _Xenorhynchus_ and

_Ephippiorhynchus_--the former containing one or (in the opinion of some)

two species, _X. australis_ and _X. indicus_, and the latter one only,

_E. senegalensis_. These belong to the countries indicated by their

names, and differ chiefly by their feathered head and neck, while the

last is sometimes termed the saddle-billed stork from the very singular

shape of its beak. Somewhat more distantly related are the gigantic birds

known to Europeans in India and elsewhere as adjutant birds, belonging to

the genus _Leptoptilus_, distinguished by their sad-coloured plumage,

their black scabrous head, and their enormous tawny pouch, which depends

occasionally some 16 in. or more in length from the lower part of the

neck, and seems to be connected with the respiratory and not, as commonly

believed, with the digestive system. In many parts of India _L. dubius_,

the largest of these birds, the _hargila_ as Hindus call it, is a most

efficient scavenger, sailing aloft at a vast height and descending on the

discovery of offal, though frogs and fishes also form part of its diet.

It familiarly enters the large towns, in many of which an account of its

services it is strictly protected from injury, and, having satisfied its

appetite, seeks the repose it has earned, sitting with its feet extended

in front in a most grotesque attitude. A second and smaller species, _L.

javanicus_, has a more southern and eastern range; while a third, _L.

crumenifer_, of African origin, and often known as the marabou-stork,

gives its name to the beautifully soft feathers so called, which are the

under-tail-coverts; the "marabout" feathers of the plume-trade are mostly

supplied by other birds, the term being apparently applied to any downy

feathers. (A. N.)

[Illustration: Jabiru.]

JABLOCHKOV, PAUL (1847-1894), Russian electrical engineer and inventor,

was born at Serdobsk, in the government of Saratov, on the 14th of

September 1847, and educated at St Petersburg. In 1871 he was appointed

director of the telegraph lines between Moscow and Kursk, but in 1875 he

resigned his position in order to devote himself to his researches on

electric lighting by arc lamps, which he had already taken up. In 1876

he settled in Paris, and towards the end of the year brought out his

famous "candles," known by his name, which consisted of two carbon

parallel rods, separated by a non-conducting partition; alternating

currents were employed, and the candle was operated by a high-resistance

carbon match connecting the tips of the rods, a true arc forming between

the parallel carbons when this burnt off, and the separators

volatilizing as the carbons burnt away. For a few years his system of

electric lighting was widely adopted, but it was gradually superseded

(see LIGHTING: _Electric_) and is no longer in use. Jablochkov made

various other electrical inventions, but he died in poverty, having

returned to Russia on the 19th of March 1894.

JABLONSKI, DANIEL ERNST (1660-1741), German theologian, was born at

Nassenhuben, near Danzig, on the 20th of November 1660. His father was a

minister of the Moravian Church, who had taken the name of Peter Figulus

on his baptism; the son, however, preferred the Bohemian family name of

Jablonski. His maternal grandfather, Johann Amos Comenius (d. 1670), was

a bishop of the Moravian Church. Having studied at Frankfort-on-the-Oder

and at Oxford, Jablonski entered upon his career as a preacher at

Magdeburg in 1683, and then from 1686 to 1691 he was the head of the

Moravian college at Lissa, a position which had been filled by his

grandfather. Still retaining his connexion with the Moravians, he was

appointed court preacher at Königsberg in 1691 by the elector of

Brandenburg, Frederick III., and here, entering upon a career of great

activity, he soon became a person of influence in court circles. In 1693

he was transferred to Berlin as court preacher, and in 1699 he was

consecrated a bishop of the Moravian Church. At Berlin Jablonski worked

hard to bring about a union between the followers of Luther and those of

Calvin; the courts of Berlin, Hanover, Brunswick and Gotha were

interested in his scheme, and his principal helper was the philosopher

Leibnitz. His idea appears to have been to form a general union between

the German, the English and the Swiss Protestants, and thus to establish

_una eademque sancta catholica et apostolica eademque evangelica et

reformata ecclesia_. For some years negotiations were carried on with a

view to attaining this end, but eventually it was found impossible to

surmount the many difficulties in the way; Jablonski and Leibnitz,

however, did not cease to believe in the possibility of accomplishing

their purpose. Jablonski's next plan was to reform the Church of Prussia

by introducing into it the episcopate, and also the liturgy of the

English Church, but here again he was unsuccessful. As a scholar

Jablonski brought out a Hebrew edition of the Old Testament, and

translated Bentley's _A Confutation of Atheism_ into Latin (1696). He

had some share in founding the Berlin Academy of Sciences, of which he

was president in 1733, and he received a degree from the university of

Oxford. He died on the 25th of May 1741.

Jablonski's son, Paul Ernst Jablonski (1693-1757), was professor of

theology and philosophy at the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder.

Editions of the letters which passed between Jablonski and Leibnitz,

relative to the proposed union, were published at Leipzig in 1747 and

at Dorpat in 1899.

JABORANDI, a name given in a generic manner in Brazil and South America

generally to a number of different plants, all of which possess more or

less marked sialogogue and sudorific properties. In the year 1875 a drug

was introduced under the above name to the notice of medical men in

France by Dr Coutinho of Pernambuco, its botanical source being then

unknown. _Pilocarpus pennatifolius_, a member of the natural order

Rutaceae, the plant from which it is obtained, is a slightly branched

shrub about 10 ft. high, growing in Paraguay and the eastern provinces

of Brazil. The leaves, which are placed alternately on the stem, are

often 1½ ft. long, and consist of from two to five pairs of opposite

leaflets, the terminal one having a longer pedicel than the others. The

leaflets are oval, lanceolate, entire and obtuse, with the apex often

slightly indented, from 3 to 4 in. long and 1 to 1½ in. broad in the

middle. When held up to the light they may be observed to have scattered

all over them numerous pellucid dots or receptacles of secretion

immersed in the substance of the leaf. The leaves in size and texture

bear some resemblance to those of the cherry-laurel (_Prunus

laurocerasus_), but are less polished on the upper surface. The flowers,

which are produced in spring and early summer, are borne on a raceme, 6

or 8 in. long, and the fruit consists of five carpels, of which not more

than two or three usually arrive at maturity. The leaves are the part of

the plant usually imported, although occasionally the stems and roots

are attached to them. The active principle for which the name

_pilocarpine_, suggested by Holmes, was ultimately adopted, was

discovered almost simultaneously by Hardy in France and Gerrard in

England, but was first obtained in a pure state by Petit of Paris. It is

a liquid alkaloid, slightly soluble in water, and very soluble in

alcohol, ether and chloroform. It strongly rotates the plane of

polarization to the right, and forms crystalline salts of which the

nitrate is that chiefly used in medicine. The nitrate and phosphate are

insoluble in ether, chloroform and benzol, while the hydrochlorate and

hydrobromate dissolve both in these menstrua and in water and alcohol;

the sulphate and acetate being deliquescent are not employed

medicinally. The formula of the alkaloid is C11H16N2O2.

Certain other alkaloids are present in the leaves. They have been named

_jaborine, jaboridine and pilocarpidine_. The first of these is the most

important and constant. It is possibly derived from pilocarpine, and has

the formula C22H32N4O4. Jaborine resembles atropine pharmacologically,

and is therefore antagonistic to pilocarpine. The various preparations

of jaborandi leaves are therefore undesirable for therapeutic purposes,

and only the nitrate of pilocarpine itself should be used. This is a

white crystalline powder, soluble in the ratio of about one part in ten

of cold water. The dose is (1/20)-½ grain by the mouth, and up to

one-third of a grain hypodermically, in which fashion it is usually

given.

[Illustration: Jaborandi--a, leaf (reduced); b, leaflet (natural size);

c, flower; d, fruit (natural size).]

The action of this powerful alkaloid closely resembles that of

physostigmine, but whereas the latter is specially active in

influencing the heart, the eye and the spinal cord, pilocarpine exerts

its greatest power on the secretions. It has no external action. When

taken by the mouth the drug is rapidly absorbed and stimulates the

secretions of the entire alimentary tract, though not of the liver.

The action on the salivary glands is the most marked and the best

understood. The great flow of saliva is due to an action of the drug,

after absorption, on the terminations of the chorda tympani,

sympathetic and other nerves of salivary secretion. The gland cells

themselves are unaffected. The nerves are so violently excited that

direct stimulation of them by electricity adds nothing to the rate of

salivary flow. The action is antagonized by atropine, which paralyses

the nerve terminals. About (1/100)th of a grain of atropine

antagonizes half a grain of pilocarpine. The circulation is depressed

by the drug, the pulse being slowed and the blood pressure falling.

The cardiac action is due to stimulation of the vagus, but the

dilatation of the blood-vessels does not appear to be due to a

specific action upon them. The drug does not kill by its action on the

heart. Its dangerous action is upon the bronchial secretion, which is

greatly increased. Pilocarpine is not only the most powerful

sialogogue but also the most powerful diaphoretic known. One dose may

cause the flow of nearly a pint of sweat in an hour. The action is

due, as in the case of the salivation, to stimulation of the terminals

of the sudorific nerves. According to K. Binz there is also in both

cases an action on the medullary centres for these secretions. Just as

the saliva is a true secretion containing a high proportion of ptyalin

and salts, and is not a mere transudation of water, so the

perspiration is found to contain a high ratio of urea and chlorides.

The great diaphoresis and the depression of the circulation usually

cause a fall in temperature of about 2° F. The drug is excreted

unchanged in the urine. It is a mild diuretic. When given internally

or applied locally to the eye it powerfully stimulates the terminals

of the oculomotor nerves in the iris and ciliary muscle, causing

extreme contraction of the pupil and spasm of accommodation. The

tension of the eyeball is at first raised but afterwards lowered.

The chief therapeutic use of the drug is as a diaphoretic in chronic

Bright's disease. It is also used to aid the growth of the hair--in

which it is sometimes successful; in cases of inordinate thirst, when

one-tenth of a grain with a little bismuth held in the mouth may be of

much value; in cases of lead and mercury poisoning, where it aids the

elimination of the poison in the secretions; as a galactagogue; and in

cases of atropine poisoning (though here it is of doubtful value).

JACA, a city of northern Spain, in the province of Huesca, 114 m. by

rail N. by W. of Saragossa, on the left bank of the river Aragon, and

among the southern slopes of the Pyrenees, 2380 ft. above the sea. Pop.

(1900), 4934. Jaca is an episcopal see, and was formerly the capital of

the Aragonese county of Sobrarbe. Its massive Gothic cathedral dates at

least from the 11th century, and possibly from the 9th. The city derives

some importance from its position on the ancient frontier road from

Saragossa to Pau. In August 1904 the French and Spanish governments

agreed to supplement this trade-route by building a railway from Oloron

in the Basses Pyrénées to Jaca. Various frontier defence works were

constructed in the neighbourhood at the close of the 19th century.

The origin of the city is unknown. The Jaccetani ([Greek: Iakkêtanoi])

are mentioned as one of the most celebrated of the numerous small tribes

inhabiting the basin of the Ebro by Strabo, who adds that their

territory was the theatre of the wars which took place in the 1st

century B.C. between Sertorius and Pompey. They are probably identical

with the Lacetani of Livy (xxi. 60, 61) and Caesar (_B.C._ i. 60). Early

in the 8th century Jaca fell into the possession of the Moors, by whose

writers it is referred to under the name of Dyaka as one of the chief

places in the province of Sarkosta (Saragossa). The date of its

reconquest is uncertain, but it must have been before the time of Ramiro

I. of Aragon (1035-1063), who gave it the title of "city," and in 1063

held within its walls a council, which, inasmuch as the people were

called in to sanction its decrees, is regarded as of great importance in

the history of the parliamentary institutions of the Peninsula. In 1705

Jaca supported King Philip V. from whom, in consequence, it received the

title of _muy noble, muy leal y vencedora_, "most noble, most loyal and

victorious." During the Peninsular War it surrendered to the French in

1809, and was recaptured in 1814.

JACAMAR, a word formed by Brisson from _Jacameri_, the Brazilian name of

a bird, as given by Marcgrave, and since adopted in most European tongues

for the species to which it was first applied and others allied to it,

forming the family _Galbulidae_[1] of ornithologists, the precise

position of which is uncertain, since the best authorities differ. All

will agree that the jacamars belong to the great heterogeneous group

called by Nitzsch Picariae, but further into detail it is hardly safe to

go. The _Galbulidae_ have zygodactylous or pair-toed feet, like the

_Cuculidae_, _Bucconidae_ and _Picidae_, they also resemble both the

latter in laying glossy white eggs, but in this respect they bear the

same resemblance to the _Momotidae_, _Alcedinidae_, _Meropidae_ and some

other groups, to which affinity has been claimed for them. In the opinion

of Sclater (_A Monograph of the Jacamars and Puff-birds_) the jacamars

form two groups--one consisting of the single genus and species

_Jacamerops aureus_ (_J. grandis_ of most authors), and the other

including all the rest, viz. _Urogalba_ with two species, _Galbula_ with

nine, _Brachygalba_ with five, and _Jacamaralcyon_ and _Galbalcyrhynchus_

with one each. They are all rather small birds, the largest known being

little over 10 in. in length, with long and sharply pointed bills, and

the plumage more or less resplendent with golden or bronze reflections,

but at the same time comparatively soft. _Jacamaralcyon tridactyla_

differs from all the rest in possessing but three toes (as its name

indicates), on each foot, the hallux being deficient. With the exception

of _Galbula melanogenia_, which is found also in Central America and

southern Mexico, all the jacamars inhabit the tropical portions of South

America eastward of the Andes, _Galbula ruficauda_, however, extending

its range to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.[2] Very little is known

of the habits of any of the species. They are seen sitting motionless on

trees, sometimes solitarily, at other times in companies, whence they

suddenly dart off at any passing insect, catch it on the wing, and return

to their perch. Of their nidification almost nothing has been recorded,

but the species occurring in Tobago is said by Kirk to make its nest in

marl-banks, digging a hole about an inch and a half in diameter and some

18 in. deep. (A. N.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Galbula_ was first applied to Marcgrave's bird by Moehring. It

is another form of _Galgulus_, and seems to have been one of the many

names of the golden oriole. See ICTERUS.

[2] The singular appearance, recorded by Canon Tristram (_Zoologist_,

p. 3906), of a bird of this species in Lincolnshire seems to require

notice. No instance seems to be known of any jacamar having been kept

in confinement or brought to this country alive; but expert

aviculturists are often not communicative, and many importations of

rare birds have doubtless passed unrecorded.

JAÇANÁ, the Brazilian name, according to Marcgrave, of certain birds,

since found to have some allies in other parts of the world, which are

also very generally called by the same appellation. They have been most

frequently classed with the water-hens or rails (_Rallidae_), but are

now recognized by many systematists as forming a separate family,

_Parridae_,[1] whose leaning seems to be rather towards the _Limicolae_,

as apparently first suggested by Blyth, a view which is supported by the

osteological observations of Parker (_Proc. Zool. Society_, 1863, p.

513), though denied by A. Milne-Edwards (_Ois. foss. de la France_, ii.

p. 110). The most obvious characteristic of this group of birds is the

extraordinary length of their toes and claws, whereby they are enabled

to walk with ease over water-lilies and other aquatic plants growing in

rivers and lakes. The family has been divided into four genera--of which

_Parra_, as now restricted, inhabits South America; _Metopidius_, hardly

differing from it, has representatives in Africa, Madagascar and the

Indian region; _Hydralector_, also very nearly allied to _Parra_,

belongs to the northern portion of the Australian region; and

_Hydrophasianus_, the most extravagant form of the whole, is found in

India, Ceylon and China. In habits the jaçanás have much in common with

the water-hens, but that fact is insufficient to warrant the affinity

asserted to exist between the two groups; for in their osteological

structure there is much difference, and the resemblance seems to be only

that of analogy. The _Parridae_ lay very peculiar eggs of a rich

olive-brown colour, in most cases closely marked with dark lines, thus

presenting an appearance by which they may be readily known from those

of any other birds, though an approach to it is occasionally to be

noticed in those of certain _Limicolae_, and especially of certain

_Charadriidae_. (A. N.)

[Illustration: Pheasant-tailed Jaçaná.]

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The classic _Parra_ is by some authors thought to have been the

golden oriole (see ICTERUS), while others suppose it was a jay or

pie. The word seems to have been imported into ornithology by

Aldrovandus, but the reason which prompted Linnaeus to apply it, as

he seems first to have done, to a bird of this group, cannot be

satisfactorily stated.

JACINI, STEFANO, COUNT (1827-1891), Italian statesman and economist, was

descended from an old and wealthy Lombard family. He studied in

Switzerland, at Milan, and in German universities. During the period of

the Austrian restoration in Lombardy (1849-1859) he devoted himself to

literary and economic studies. For his work on _La Proprietà fondiaria

in Lombardia_ (Milan, 1856) he received a prize from the Milanese

_Società d'incoraggiamento di scienze e lettere_ and was made a member

of the Istituto Lombardo. In another work, _Sulle condizioni economiche

della Valtellina_ (Milan, 1858, translated into English by W. E.

Gladstone), he exposed the evils of Austrian rule, and he drew up a

report on the general conditions of Lombardy and Venetia for Cavour. He

was minister of Public Works under Cavour in 1860-1861, in 1864 under La

Marmora, and down to 1867 under Ricasoli. In 1866 he presented a bill

favouring Italy's participation in the construction of the St Gotthard

tunnel. He was instrumental in bringing about the alliance with Prussia

for the war of 1866 against Austria, and in the organization of the

Italian railways. From 1881 to 1886 he was president of the commission

to inquire into the agricultural conditions of Italy, and edited the

voluminous report on the subject. He was created senator in 1870, and

given the title of count in 1880. He died in 1891.

L. Carpi's _Risorgimento italiano_, vol. iv. (Milan, 1888), contains a

short sketch of Jacini's life.

JACK, a word with a great variety of meanings and applications, all

traceable to the common use of the word as a by-name of a man. The

question has been much discussed whether "Jack" as a name is an

adaptation of Fr. _Jacques_, i.e. James, from Lat. _Jacobus_, Gr.

[Greek: Iakôbos], or whether it is a direct pet formation from John,

which is its earliest and universal use in English. In the _History of

the Monastery of St Augustine_ at Canterbury, 1414, Jack is given as a

form of John--_Mos est Saxonum ... verba et nomina transformare ... ut

... pro Johanne Jankin sive Jacke_ (see E. W. B. Nicholson, _The

Pedigree of Jack and other Allied Names_, 1892). "Jack" was early used

as a general term for any man of the common people, especially in

combination with the woman's name Jill or Gill, as in the nursery rhyme.

The _New English Dictionary_ quotes from the _Coventry Mysteries_, 1450:

"And I wole kepe the feet this tyde Thow ther come both Iakke and

Gylle." Familiar examples of this generic application of the name are

Jack or Jack Tar for a sailor, which seems to date from the 17th

century, and such compound uses as cheap-jack and steeple-jack, or such

expressions as "jack in office," "jack of all trades," &c. It is a

further extension of this that gives the name to the knave in a pack of

cards, and also to various animals, as jackdaw, jack-snipe, jack-rabbit

(a species of large prairie-hare); it is also used as a general name for

pike.

The many applications of the word "jack" to mechanical devices and other

objects follow two lines of reference, one to objects somewhat smaller

than the ordinary, the other to appliances which take the place of

direct manual labour or assist or save it. Of the first class may be

noticed the use of the term for the small object bowl in the game of

bowls or for jack rafters, those rafters in a building shorter than the

main rafters, especially the end rafters in a hipped roof. The use of

jack as the name for a particular form of ship's flag probably arose

thus, for it is always a smaller flag than the ensign. The jack is flown

on a staff on the bowsprit of a vessel. In the British navy the jack is

a small Union flag. (The Union flag should not be styled a Union Jack

except when it is flown as a jack.) The jack of other nations is usually

the canton of the ensign, as in the German and the United States navies,

or else is a smaller form of the national ensign, as in France. (See

FLAG.)

The more common use of "jack" is for various mechanical and other

devices originally used as substitutes for men or boys. Thus the origin

of the boot-jack and the meat-jack is explained in Isaac Watts's

_Logic_, 1724: "So foot boys, who had frequently the common name of Jack

given them, were kept to turn the spit or pull off their masters' boots,

but when instruments were invented for both these services, they were

both called jacks." The _New English Dictionary_ finds a transitional

sense in the use of the name "jack" for mechanical figures which strike

the hours on a bell of a clock. Such a figure in the clock of St

Lawrence Church at Reading is called a jack in the parish accounts for

1498-1499. There are many different applications of "jack," to certain

levers and other parts of textile machinery, to metal plugs used for

connecting lines in a telephone exchange, to wooden uprights connecting

the levers of the keys with the strings in the harpsichord and virginal,

to a framework forming a seat or staging which can be fixed outside a

window for cleaning or painting purposes, and to many devices containing

a roller or winch, as in a jack towel, a long towel hung on a roller.

The principal mechanical application of the word, however, is to a

machine for raising weights from below. A jack chain, so called from its

use in meat-jacks, is one in which the links, formed each in a figure of

eight, are set in planes at right angles to each other, so that they are

seen alternately flat or edgeways.

In most European languages the word "jack" in various forms appears for

a short upper outer garment, particularly in the shape of a sleeveless

(quilted) leather jerkin, sometimes with plates or rings of iron sewn to

it. It was the common coat of defence of the infantry of the middle

ages. The word in this case is of French origin and was an adaptation of

the common name _Jacques_, as being a garment worn by the common people.

In French the word is _jaque_, and it appears in Italian as _giaco_, or

_giacco_, in Dutch _jak_, Swedish _jacka_ and German _Jacke_, still the

ordinary name for a short coat, as is the English jacket, from the

diminutive French _jaquette_. It was probably from some resemblance to

the leather coat that the well-known leather vessels for holding liquor

or for drinking were known as jacks or black jacks. These drinking

vessels, which are often of great size, were not described as black

jacks till the 16th century, though known as jacks much earlier. Among

the important specimens that have survived to this day is one with the

initials and crown of Charles I. and the date, 1646, which came from

Kensington Palace and is now in the British Museum; one each at Queen's

College and New College, Oxford; two at Winchester College; one at Eton

College; and six at the Chelsea Hospital. Many specimens are painted

with shields of arms, initials and other devices; they are very seldom

mounted in silver, though spurious specimens with silver medallions of

Cromwell and other prominent personages exist. At the end of the 17th

century a smaller jack of a different form, like an ordinary drinking

mug with a tapering cylindrical body, often mounted in silver, came into

vogue in a limited degree. The black jack is a distinct type of drinking

vessel from the leather botel and the bombard. The jack-boot, the heavy

riding boot with long flap covering the knee and part of the thigh, and

worn by troopers first during the 17th century, was so called probably

from association with the leather jack or jerkin. The jack-boot is still

worn by the Household Cavalry, and the name is applied to a high riding

boot reaching to the knee as distinguished from the riding boot with

tops, used in full hunting-kit or by grooms or coachmen.

Jack, sometimes spelled jak, is the common name for the fruit of the

tree _Artiocarpus integrifolia_, found in the East Indies. The word is

an adaptation of the Portuguese _jaca_ from the Malay name _chakka_.

(See BREAD FRUIT.)

The word "jackanapes," now used as an opprobrious term for a swaggering

person with impertinent ways and affected airs and graces, has a

disputed and curious history. According to the _New English Dictionary_

it first appears in 1450 in reference to William de la Pole, duke of

Suffolk (_Political Poems_, "Rolls Series," II. 224), "Jack Napys with

his clogge hath tiede Talbot oure gentille dogge." Suffolk's badge was a

clog and chain, such as was often used for an ape kept in captivity, and

he is alluded to (ibid. 222) as "Ape clogge." Jack Napes, Jack o' Napes,

Jackanapes, was a common name for a tame ape from the 16th century, and

it seems more likely that the word is a fanciful name for a monkey than

that it is due to the nickname of Suffolk.

JACKAL (Turk, _chakal_), a name properly restricted to _Canis aureus_, a

wolf-like wild member of the dog family inhabiting eastern Europe and

southern Asia, but extended to include a number of allied species.

Jackals resemble wolves and dogs in their dentition, the round

eye-pupils, the period of gestation, and to a large extent also in

habits. The European species grows to a height of 15 in. at the

shoulders, and to a length of about 2 ft., exclusive of its bushy tail.

Typically the fur is greyish-yellow, darker on the back and lighter

beneath. The range of the common jackal (_C. aureus_) extends from

Dalmatia to India, the species being represented by several local races.

In Senegal this species is replaced by _C. anthus_, while in Egypt

occurs the much larger _C. lupaster_, commonly known as the Egyptian

wolf. Nearly allied to the last is the so-called Indian wolf (_C.

pallipes_). Other African species are the black-backed jackal (_C.

mesomelas_), the variegated jackal (_C. variegatus_), and the dusky

jackal (_C. adustus_). Jackals are nocturnal animals, concealing

themselves until dusk in woody jungles and other natural lurking places,

and then sallying forth in packs, which sometimes number two hundred

individuals, and visiting farmyards, villages and towns in search of

food. This consists for the most part of the smaller mammals and

poultry; although the association in packs enables these marauders to

hunt down antelopes and sheep. When unable to obtain living prey, they

feed on carrion and refuse of all kinds, and are thus useful in removing

putrescent matter from the streets. They are also fond of grapes and

other fruits, and are thus the pests of the vineyard as well as the

poultry-yard. The cry of the jackal is even more appalling than that of

the hyena, a shriek from one member of a pack being the signal for a

general chorus of screams, which is kept up during the greater part of

the night. In India these animals are hunted with foxhounds or

greyhounds, and from their cunning and pluck afford excellent sport.

Jackals are readily tamed; and domesticated individuals are said, when

called by their masters, to wag their tails, crouch and throw themselves

on the ground, and otherwise behave in a dog-like fashion. The jackal,

like the fox, has an offensive odour, due to the secretion of a gland at

the base of the tail.

[Illustration: Egyptian Jackal (_Canis lupaster_).]

JACKDAW, or simply DAW (Old Low German, _Daha_; Dutch, _Kaauw_), one of

the smallest species of the genus _Corvus_ (see CROW), and a very well

known inhabitant of Europe, the _C. monedula_ of ornithologists. In some

of its habits it much resembles its congener the rook, with which it

constantly associates during a great part of the year; but, while the

rook only exceptionally places its nest elsewhere than on the boughs of

trees and open to the sky, the daw almost invariably chooses holes,

whether in rocks, hollow trees, rabbit-burrows or buildings. Nearly

every church-tower and castle, ruined or not, is more or less numerously

occupied by daws. Chimneys frequently give them the accommodation they

desire, much to the annoyance of the householder, who finds the funnel

choked by the quantity of sticks brought together by the birds, since

their industry in collecting materials for their nests is as marvellous

as it often is futile. In some cases the stack of loose sticks piled up

by daws in a belfry or tower has been known to form a structure 10 or 12

ft. in height, and hence this species may be accounted one of the

greatest nest-builders in the world. The style of architecture practised

by the daw thus brings it more than the rook into contact with man, and

its familiarity is increased by the boldness of its disposition which,

though tempered by discreet cunning, is hardly surpassed among birds.

Its small size, in comparison with most of its congeners, alone

incapacitates it from inflicting the serious injuries of which some of

them are often the authors, yet its pilferings are not to be denied,

though on the whole its services to the agriculturist are great, for in

the destruction of injurious insects it is hardly inferior to the rook,

and it has the useful habit of ridding sheep, on whose backs it may be

frequently seen perched, of some of their parasites.

The daw displays the glossy black plumage so characteristic of the true

crows, varied only by the hoary grey of the ear-coverts, and of the nape

and sides of the neck, which is the mark of the adult; but examples from

the east of Europe and western Asia have these parts much lighter,

passing into a silvery white, and hence have been deemed by some

authorities to constitute a distinct species (_C. collaris_, Drumm.).

Further to the eastward occurs the _C. dauuricus_ of Pallas, which has

not only the collar broader and of a pure white, but much of the lower

parts of the body white also. Japan and northern China are inhabited

also by a form resembling that of western Europe, but wanting the grey

nape of the latter. This is the _C. neglectus_ of Professor Schlegel,

and is said by Dresser, on the authority of Swinhoe, to interbreed

frequently with _C. dauuricus_. These are all the birds that seem

entitled to be considered daws, though Dr Bowdler Sharpe (_Cat. B. Brit.

Museum_, iii. 24) associates with them (under the little-deserved

separate generic distinction _Coloeus_) the fish-crow of North America,

which appears both in structure and in habits to be a true crow.

(A. N.)

JACKSON, ANDREW (1767-1845), seventh president of the United States, was

born on the 15th of March 1767, at the Waxhaw or Warsaw settlement, in

Union county, North Carolina, or in Lancaster county, South Carolina,

whither his parents had immigrated from Carrickfergus, Ireland, in 1765.

He played a slight part in the War of Independence, and was taken

prisoner in 1781, his treatment resulting in a lifelong dislike of Great

Britain. He studied law at Salisbury, North Carolina, was admitted to

the bar there in 1787, and began to practise at McLeansville, Guilford

county, North Carolina, where for a time he was a constable and

deputy-sheriff. In 1788, having been appointed prosecuting attorney of

the western district of North Carolina (now the state of Tennessee), he

removed to Nashville, the seat of justice of the district. In 1791 he

married Mrs Rachel Robards (_née_ Donelson), having heard that her

husband had obtained a divorce through the legislature of Virginia. The

legislative act, however, had only authorized the courts to determine

whether or not there were sufficient grounds for a divorce and to grant

or withhold it accordingly. It was more than two years before the

divorce was actually granted, and only on the basis of the fact that

Jackson and Mrs Robards were then living together. On receiving this

information, Jackson had the marriage ceremony performed a second time.

In 1796 Jackson assisted in framing the constitution of Tennessee. From

December 1796 to March 1797 he represented that state in the Federal

House of Representatives, where he distinguished himself as an

irreconcilable opponent of President Washington, and was one of the

twelve representatives who voted against the address to him by the

House. In 1797 he was elected a United States senator; but he resigned

in the following year. He was judge of the supreme court of Tennessee

from 1798 to 1804. In 1804-1805 he contracted a friendship with Aaron

Burr; and at the latter's trial in 1807 Jackson was one of his

conspicuous champions. Up to the time of his nomination for the

presidency, the biographer of Jackson finds nothing to record but

military exploits in which he displayed perseverance, energy and skill

of a very high order, and a succession of personal acts in which he

showed himself ignorant, violent, perverse, quarrelsome and

astonishingly indiscreet. His combative disposition led him into

numerous personal difficulties. In 1795 he fought a duel with Colonel

Waitstill Avery (1745-1821), an opposing counsel, over some angry words

uttered in a court room; but both, it appears, intentionally fired wild.

In 1806 in another duel, after a long and bitter quarrel, he killed

Charles Dickinson, and Jackson himself received a wound from which he

never fully recovered. In 1813 he exchanged shots with Thomas Hart

Benton and his brother Jesse in a Nashville tavern, and received a

second wound. Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton were later reconciled.