696 



PORTUGAL. 



There are a number of substances, according 

 to Prof. Liebriech, which, when injected subcu- 

 taneously, give rise to anaesthesia in the imme- 

 diate neighborhood of the place where they are 

 injected. Antipyrine, sal-ammoniac, salts of 

 tannin, resorcin, chloride of iron, and other 

 substances have this action, although there is 

 no chemical or physiological similarity between 

 them. They possess, however, the property 

 in common that they all have a corrosive ac- 

 tion on the tissues the expression being un- 

 derstood to imply any kind of alteration of 

 molecular structure. The alkaloids, in the 

 cases where they possess a local anaesthetic 

 action, act in the same way, as, for instance, 

 erythrophcein. Cocaine alone is an exception 

 to the rule, inasmuch as it is a local anaesthet- 

 ic, but does not corrode the tissues. When ap- 

 plied subcutaneously to man, the substances 

 named produce either no localized anaesthesia, 

 or one which is very imperfect. When testing 

 the action of anaesthetics on the eye, it is es- 

 sential to take into account the difference in 

 sensitiveness of the conjunctiva and cornea, as 

 Claude Bernard has pointed out. 



PORTUGAL, a constitutional monarchy in 

 Southwestern Europe. The crown is heredi- 

 tary to both sexes in the house of Braganza. 

 The present sovereign is Luis I, born Oct. 31, 

 1838, the son of Queen Maria II and Prince 

 Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, who succeeded his 

 brother Pedro V, Nov. 11, 1861, and married 

 in 1862, Pia, youngest daughter of King Vit- 

 torio Emanuele of Italy. 



The Cartn de Ley, or Constitution, granted in 

 1826, and altered in 1852, was further modified 

 by the law of July 24-, 1885, which abolishes 

 hereditary peerages by a gradual process. 

 These become extinct on the death of the im- 

 mediate successors of the peers now living. In 

 the place of the hereditary peers, there will be 

 100 peers appointed for life by the King, and 

 50 elective peers. The Chamber of Peers con- 

 sists of 162 members, and the Chamber of 

 Deputies since 1884 has had 173 members. 

 The present Cabinet, constituted on Feb. 20, 

 1886, is composed as follows: President of the 

 Council and Minister of the Interior, Lucianno 

 de Castro Pereira Corte Real ; Minister of Jus- 

 tice, F. A. da Veiga Beirao ; Minister of Pub- 

 lic Works, E. J. Navarro ; Minister of Finance, 

 M. Cyrillo de Carvalho ; Minister of War, Col. 

 Viscount San Januario ; Minister of Marine 

 and the Colonies, EL de Barros Gomes, who is 

 also Minister of Foreign Affairs ad interim. 



Finances. The public debt on June 30, 1887, 

 amounted to 490,493,599 milreis. The interest 

 discharged during the year was 14,907,479 

 milreis, and the interest in default that was 

 added to the debt was 5,237,420 milreis. 



Commnnirations. The main lines in 1888 had 

 the total length of 1,761 kilometres, while 382 

 kilometres were in course of construction. Of 

 subsidiary railroads, there were 144 kilometres 

 completed and 109 kilometres building. 



The number of letters sent through the mails 



in 1887 was 20,219,712; post-cards, 3,056,- 

 279; circulars and newspapers, 16,944,182. 



The length of the Government lines at the 

 beginning of 1885 was 4,978 kilometres, with 

 11,732 kilometres of wire. The receipts were 

 220,684 milreis. 



Commerce. The values of the imports and ex- 

 ports of the various classes in 1887 are given, 

 in milreis, in the following table : 



The imports of precious metals amounted to 

 4,771,000 milreis, and the exports to 5,000 

 milreis. 



The countries participating in the foreign 

 commerce of Portugal in 1886 and the value of 

 the trade with each, in milreis, are given in the 

 following table: 



The merchant marine in 1888 consisted of 

 48 steam-vessels of the aggregate capacity of 

 16,260 cubic metres, and 421 sailing-vessels of 

 32,310 cubic metres. 



The Army. The effective strength of the 

 army on the peace footing, Aug. 31, 1888, was 

 2,073 officers and 28,534 men, with 2,852 horses 

 and 768 mules. The war strength was 3,862 

 officers and 125,057 men, with 7,821 horses, 

 4,870 mules, and 264 guns. These figures do 

 not include the colonial forces, consisting of a 

 regiment of infantry 1,193 strong, and 7,633 

 colonial troops of the first line, besides numer- 

 ous native troops of the second and third lines. 



The Navy. The fleet in 1888 numbered 42 

 steamers with 126 guns, and 13 sailing-vessels 

 with 41 guns. The steam navy included 1 

 iron-clad corvette, the " Vasco de Gamo " ; 6 

 other corvettes ; 1 8 gun-boats ; 7 other steam- 

 ers ; and 6 torpedo-vessels. 



Colonies. In Macao, Portuguese sovereignty 

 over which has recently been acknowledged 

 by China in return for the co-operation of the 



