Quotes4study

There are men who toil at extracting gold; he toiled at the extraction of pity. Universal misery was his mine. The sadness which reigned everywhere was but an excuse for unfailing kindness. Love each other; he declared this to be complete, desired nothing further, and that was the whole of his doctrine. One day, that man who believed himself to be a "philosopher," the senator who has already been alluded to, said to the Bishop: "Just survey the spectacle of the world: all war against all; the strongest has the most wit. Your love each other is nonsense."--"Well," replied Monseigneur Welcome, without contesting the point, "if it is nonsense, the soul should shut itself up in it, as the pearl in the oyster." Thus he shut himself up, he lived there, he was absolutely satisfied with it, leaving on one side the prodigious questions which attract and terrify, the fathomless perspectives of abstraction, the precipices of metaphysics--all those profundities which converge, for the apostle in God, for the atheist in nothingness; destiny, good and evil, the way of being against being, the conscience of man, the thoughtful somnambulism of the animal, the transformation in death, the recapitulation of existences which the tomb contains, the incomprehensible grafting of successive loves on the persistent _I_, the essence, the substance, the Nile, and the Ens, the soul, nature, liberty, necessity; perpendicular problems, sinister obscurities, where lean the gigantic archangels of the human mind; formidable abysses, which Lucretius, Manou, Saint Paul, Dante, contemplate with eyes flashing lightning, which seems by its steady gaze on the infinite to cause stars to blaze forth there.

Victor Hugo     Les Miserables

'What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her daughter 'Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose YOUR temper!' 'Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the young Crab, a little snappishly. 'You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!'

Lewis Carroll     Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Then they began to pass around the dusky, piquant, Arlesian sausages, and lobsters in their dazzling red cuirasses, prawns of large size and brilliant color, the echinus with its prickly outside and dainty morsel within, the clovis, esteemed by the epicures of the South as more than rivalling the exquisite flavor of the oyster,--all the delicacies, in fact, that are cast up by the wash of waters on the sandy beach, and styled by the grateful fishermen "fruits of the sea."

Alexandre Dumas, Pere     The Count of Monte Cristo

HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894), English writer on international law, was the only child of William Hall, M.D., a descendant of a junior branch of the Halls of Dunglass, and of Charlotte, daughter of William Cotton, F.S.A. He was born on the 22nd of August 1835, at Leatherhead, Surrey, but passed his childhood abroad, Dr Hall having acted as physician to the king of Hanover, and subsequently to the British legation at Naples. Hence, perhaps, the son's taste in after life for art and modern languages. He was educated privately till, at the early age of seventeen, he matriculated at Oxford, where in 1856 he took his degree with a first class in the then recently instituted school of law and history, gaining, three years afterwards, the chancellor's prize for an essay upon "the effect upon Spain of the discovery of the precious metals in America." In 1861 he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, but devoted his time less to any serious attempt to obtain practice than to the study of Italian art, and to travelling over a great part of Europe, always bringing home admirable water-colour drawings of buildings and scenery. He was an early and enthusiastic member of the Alpine Club, making several first ascents, notably that of the Lyskamm. He was always much interested in military matters, and was under fire, on the Danish side, in the war of 1864. In 1867 he published a pamphlet entitled "A Plan for the Reorganization of the Army," and, many years afterwards, he saw as much as he was permitted to see of the expedition sent for the rescue of Gordon. He would undoubtedly have made his mark in the army, but in later life his ideal, which he realized, with much success, first at Llanfihangel in Monmouthshire, and then at Coker Court in Somersetshire, was, as has been said, "the English country gentleman, with cosmopolitan experiences, encyclopaedic knowledge, and artistic feeling." His travels took him to Lapland, Egypt, South America and India. He had done good work for several government offices, in 1871 as inspector of returns under the Elementary Education Act, in 1877 by reports to the Board of Trade upon Oyster Fisheries, in France as well as in England; and all the time was amassing materials for ambitious undertakings upon the history of civilization, and of the colonies. His title to lasting remembrance rests, however, upon his labours in the realm of international law, recognized by his election as _associé_ in 1875, and as _membre_ in 1882, of the _Institut de Droit International_. In 1874 he published a thin 8vo upon the _Rights and Duties of Neutrals_, and followed it up in 1880 by his _magnum opus_, the _Treatise on International Law_, unquestionably the best book upon the subject in the English language. It is well planned, free from the rhetorical vagueness which has been the besetting vice of older books of a similar character, full of information, and everywhere bearing traces of the sound judgment and statesmanlike views of its author. In 1894 Hall published a useful monograph upon a little-explored topic, "the Foreign Jurisdictions of the British Crown," but on the 30th of November of the same year, while apparently in the fullest enjoyment of bodily as well as mental vigour, he suddenly died. He married, in 1866, Imogen, daughter of Mr (afterwards Mr Justice) Grove, who died in 1886; and in 1891, Alice, daughter of Colonel Hill of Court Hill, Shropshire, but left no issue. Entry: HALL

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel"     1910-1911

The province produces much wheat, barley, rice, millet, cotton, but the authorities every now and then prohibiting the export of cereals, the people generally sow just as much as they think will suffice for their own wants. Much tobacco of excellent quality, principally for consumption in Persia, is also grown (especially in Fessa, Darab and Jahrom) and a considerable quantity of opium, much of it for export to China, is produced. Salt, lime and gypsum are abundant. There are also some oil wells at Daliki, near Bushire, but several attempts to tap the oil have been unsuccessful. There are no valuable oyster-banks in Persian waters, and all the Persian Gulf pearls are obtained from banks on the coast of Arabia and near Bahrein. (A. H.-S.) Entry: FARS

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens"     1910-1911

_Geology._--The northern half of the county is occupied by Jurassic strata, in the southern half Cretaceous rocks predominate except in the south-eastern corner, where they are covered by Tertiary beds. Thus the oldest rocks are in the north, succeeded continuously by younger strata to the south; the general dip of all the rocks is south-easterly. A few patches of Upper Lias Clay appear near the northern boundary near Grafton Regis and Castle Thorpe, and again in the valley of the Ouse near Stoke Goldington and Weston Underwood. The Oolitic series is represented by the Great Oolite, with limestones in the upper part, much quarried for building stones at Westbury, Thornborough, Brock, Whittlewood Forest, &c.; the lower portions are more argillaceous. The Forest Marble is seen about Thornton as a thin bed of clay with an oyster-bearing limestone at the base. Next above is the Cornbrash, a series of rubbly and occasionally hard limestones and thin clays. The outcrop runs by Tingwick, Buckingham, Berehampton and Newport Pagnell, it is quarried at Wolverton and elsewhere for road metal. Inliers of these rocks occur at Marsh Gibbon and Stan Hill. The Oxford Clay and Kimmeridge Clay, with the Gault, lie in the vale of Aylesbury. The clay is covered by numerous outliers of Portland, Purbeck and Lower Greensand beds. The Portland beds are sandy below, calcareous above; the outcrop follows the normal direction in the county, from south-west to north-east, from Thame through Aylesbury; they are quarried at several places for building stone and fossils are abundant. The Hartwell Clay is in the Lower Portland. Freshwater Purbeck beds lie below the Portland and Lower Greensand beds; they cap the ridge between Oving and Whitchurch. Glass-making sands have been worked from the Lower Greensand at Hartwell, and phosphatic nodules from the same beds at Brickhill as well as from the Gault at Towersey. A broad band of Gault, a bluish clay, extends from Towersey across the county in a north-easterly direction. Resting upon the Gault is the Upper Greensand; at the junction of the two formations numerous springs arise, a circumstance which has no doubt determined the site of several villages. The Chalk rises abruptly from the low lying argillaceous plain to form the Chiltern Hills. The form of the whole of the hilly district round Chesham, High Wycombe and the Chalfonts is determined by the Chalk. Reading beds, mottled clays and sands, repose upon the Chalk at Woburn, Barnham, Fulmer and Denham, and these are in turn covered by the London Clay, which is exposed on the slopes about Stoke Common and Iver. Between the Tertiary-capped Chalk plateau and the Thames, a gentler slope, covered with alluvial gravel and brick earth, reaches down to the river. Thick deposits of plateau gravel cover most of the high ground in the southern corner of the county, while much of the northern part is obscured by glacial clays and gravels. Entry: BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria"     1910-1911

Annapolis, at first called Providence, was settled in 1649 by Puritan exiles from Virginia. Later it bore in succession the names of Town at Proctor's, Town at the Severn, Anne Arundel Town, and finally in 1694, Annapolis, in honour of Princess Anne, who at the time was heir to the throne of Great Britain. In 1694 also, soon after the overthrow of the Catholic government of the lord proprietor, it was made the seat of the new government as well as a port of entry, and it has since remained the capital of Maryland; but it was not until 1708 that it was incorporated as a city. From the middle of the 18th century until the War of Independence, Annapolis was noted for its wealthy and cultivated society. The _Maryland Gazette_, which became an important weekly journal, was founded by Jonas Green in 1745; in 1769 a theatre was opened; during this period also the commerce was considerable, but declined rapidly after Baltimore, in 1780, was made a port of entry, and now oyster-packing is the city's only important industry. Congress was in session in the state house here from the 26th of November 1783 to the 3rd of June 1784, and it was here on the 23rd of December 1783 that General Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. In 1786 a convention, to which delegates from all the states of the Union were invited, was called to meet in Annapolis to consider measures for the better regulation of commerce (see ALEXANDRIA, Va.); but delegates came from only five states (New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware), and the convention--known afterward as the "Annapolis Convention,"--without proceeding to the business for which it had met, passed a resolution calling for another convention to meet at Philadelphia in the following year to amend the articles of confederation; by this Philadelphia convention the present Constitution of the United States was framed. Entry: ANNAPOLIS

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo"     1910-1911

The number of materials that have been used for making buttons is very large--metals such as brass and iron for the cheaper kinds, and for more expensive ones, gold and silver, sometimes ornamented with jewels, filigree work, &c.; ivory, horn, bone and mother-of-pearl or other nacreous products of shell-fish; vegetable ivory and wood; glass, porcelain, paper, celluloid and artificial compositions; and even the casein of milk, and blood. Brass buttons were made at Birmingham in 1689, and in the following century the metal button industry underwent considerable development in that city. Matthew Boulton the elder, about 1745, introduced great improvements in the processes of manufacture, and when his son started the Soho works in 1767 one of the departments was devoted to the production of steel buttons with facets, some of which sold for 140 guineas a gross. Gilt buttons also came into fashion about the same period. In this "Augustan age" of the Birmingham button industry, when there was a large export trade, the profits of manufacturers who worked on only a modest scale amounted to £3000 and £4000 a year, and workmen earned from £2 to £4 a week. At one time the buttons had each to be fashioned separately by skilled artisans, but gradually the cost of production was lessened by the adoption of mechanical processes, and instead of being turned out singly and engraved or otherwise ornamented by hand, they came to be stamped out in dies which at once shape them and impress them with the desired pattern. Ivory buttons are among the oldest of all. Horn buttons were made at Birmingham at least by 1777; towards the middle of the igth century Emile Bassot invented a widely-used process for producing them from the hoofs of cattle, which were softened by boiling. Pearl buttons are made from pearl oyster shells obtained from various parts of the world, and after being cut out by tubular drills are shaped and polished by machinery. Buttons of vegetable ivory can be readily dyed. Glass buttons are especially made in Bohemia, as also are those of porcelain, which were invented about 1840 by an Englishman, R. Prosser of Birmingham. In the United States few buttons were made until the beginning of the 19th century, when the manufacture of metal buttons was started at Waterbury, Conn., which is now the centre of that industry. In 1812 Aaron Benedict began to make ivory and horn buttons at the same place. Buttons of vegetable ivory, now one of the most important branches of the American button industry, were first made at Leeds, Mass., in 1859 by an Englishman, A.W. Critchlow, and in 1875 commercial success was attained in the production of composition buttons at Springfield, Mass. Pearl buttons were made on a small scale in 1855, but their manufacture received an enormous impetus in the last decade of the 19th century, when J.F. Boepple began, at Muscatine, Iowa, to utilize the unio or "niggerhead" shells found along the Mississippi. By 1905 the annual output of these "fresh-water pearl" buttons had reached 11,405,723 gross, worth $3,359,167, or 36.6% of the total value of the buttons produced in the United States. In the same year the mother-of-pearl buttons ("ocean pearl buttons") numbered 1,737,830 gross, worth $1,511,107, and the two kinds together constituted 44% of the number, and 53.9% of the value, of the button manufactures of the United States. (See _U.S.A. Census Reports, 1900, Manufactures_, part iii. pp. 315-327.) Entry: BUTTMANN

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"     1910-1911

The fisheries are very valuable; the total number of species of fish in Florida waters is about 600, and many species found on one coast are not found on the other. The king fish and tarpon are hunted for sport, while mullet, shad, redsnappers, pompano, trout, sheepshead and Spanish mackerel are of great economic value. The sponge and oyster fisheries are also important. The total product of the fisheries in 1902 was valued at about $2,000,000. Entry: A

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker"     1910-1911

GIRONDE, a maritime department of south-western France, formed from four divisions of the old province of Guyenne, viz. Bordelais, Bazadais, and parts of Périgord and Agenais. Area, 4140 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 823,925. It is bounded N. by the department of Charente-Inférieure, E. by those of Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne, S. by that of Landes, and W. by the Bay of Biscay. It takes its name from the river or estuary of the Gironde formed by the union of the Garonne and Dordogne. The department divides itself naturally into a western and an eastern portion. The former, which is termed the _Landes_ (q.v.), occupies more than a third of the department, and consists chiefly of morass or sandy plain, thickly planted with pines and divided from the sea by a long line of dunes. These dunes are planted with pines, which, by binding the sand together with their roots, prevent it from drifting inland and afford a barrier against the sea. On the east the dunes are fringed for some distance by two extensive lakes, Carcans and Lacanau, communicating with each other and with the Bay of Arcachon, near the southern extremity of the department. The Bay of Arcachon contains numerous islands, and on the land side forms a vast shallow lagoon, a considerable portion of which, however, has been drained and converted into arable land. The eastern portion of the department consists chiefly of a succession of hill and dale, and, especially in the valley of the Gironde, is very fertile. The estuary of the Gironde is about 45 m. in length, and varies in breadth from 2 to 6 m. It presents a succession of islands and mud banks which divide it into two channels and render navigation somewhat difficult. It is, however, well buoyed and lighted, and has a mean depth of 21 ft. There are extensive marshes on the right bank to the north of Blaye, and the shores on the left are characterized, especially towards the mouth, by low-lying polders protected by dikes and composed of fertile salt marshes. At the mouth of the Gironde stands the famous tower of Cordouan, one of the finest lighthouses of the French coast. It was built between the years 1585 and 1611 by the architect and engineer Louis de Foix, and added to towards the end of the 18th century. The principal affluent of the Dordogne in this department is the Isle. The feeders of the Garonne are, with the exception of the Dropt, all small. West of the Garonne the only river of importance is the Leyre, which flows into the Bay of Arcachon. The climate is humid and mild and very hot in summer. Wheat, rye, maize, oats and tobacco are grown to a considerable extent. The corn produced, however, does not meet the wants of the inhabitants. The culture of the vine is by far the most important branch of industry carried on (see Wine), the vineyards occupying about one-seventh of the surface of the department. The wine-growing districts are the Médoc, Graves, Côtes, Palus, Entre-deux-Mers and Sauternes. The Médoc is a region of 50 m. in length by about 6 m. in breadth, bordering the left banks of the Garonne and the Gironde between Bordeaux and the sea. The Graves country forms a zone 30 m. in extent, stretching along the left bank of the Garonne from the neighbourhood of Bordeaux to Barsac. The Sauternes country lies to the S.E. of the Graves. The Côtes lie on the right bank of the Dordogne and Gironde, between it and the Garonne, and on the left bank of the Garonne. The produce of the Palus, the alluvial land of the valleys, and of the Entre-deux-Mers, situated on the left bank of the Dordogne, is inferior. Fruits and vegetables are extensively cultivated, the peaches and pears being especially fine. Cattle are extensively raised, the Bazadais breed of oxen and the Bordelais breed of milch-cows being well known. Oyster-breeding is carried on on a large scale in the Bay of Arcachon. Large supplies of resin, pitch and turpentine are obtained from the pine woods, which also supply vine-props, and there are well-known quarries of limestone. The manufactures are various, and, with the general trade, are chiefly carried on at Bordeaux (q.v.), the chief town and third port in France. Pauillac, Blaye, Libourne and Arcachon are minor ports. Gironde is divided into the arrondissements of Bordeaux, Blaye, Lesparre, Libourne, Bazas and La Réole, with 49 cantons and 554 communes. The department is served by five railways, the chief of which are those of the Orleans and Southern companies. It forms part of the circumscription of the archbishopric, the appeal-court and the _académie_ (educational division) of Bordeaux, and of the region of the XVIII. army corps, the headquarters of which are at that city. Besides Bordeaux, Libourne, La Réole, Bazas, Blaye, Arcachon, St Emilion and St Macaire are the most noteworthy towns and receive separate treatment. Among the other places of interest the chief are Cadillac, on the right bank of the Garonne, where there is a castle of the 16th century, surrounded by fortifications of the 14th century; Labrède, with a feudal château in which Montesquieu was born and lived; Villandraut, where there is a ruined castle of the 13th century; Uzeste, which has a church begun in 1310 by Pope Clement V.; Mazères with an imposing castle of the 14th century; La Sauve, which has a church (11th and 12th centuries) and other remains of a Benedictine abbey; and Ste Foy-la-Grande, a bastide created in 1255 and afterwards a centre of Protestantism, which is still strong there. La Teste (pop. in 1906, 5699) was the capital in the middle ages of the famous lords of Buch. Entry: GIRONDE

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 1 "Gichtel, Johann" to "Glory"     1910-1911