PREFACE. 



THE most important topic of the year 1896 was the political contest -in the United 

 States, in which the great tariff issue was overshadowed by the newer and more ex- 

 citing subject of free coinage of silver, with which were closely associated questions 

 of Federal power in interstate matters and popular dissent from decisions of the 

 Supreme Court. The reader will get full information of this great crisis if he con- 

 sults the articles "United States," "Presidential Canvass of 1896," and u McKinley, 

 William." together with the sketches of William Jennings Bryan and Garret 

 Augustus Hobart. A good many side lights, also, are thrown upon this subject in 

 the paragraph entitled " Political " in the various State articles. In the article 

 "United States "there is a more thorough analysis of the vote than has been pub- 

 lished before, and it brings out some curious and significant facts. 



The last of a series of articles on the United States census of 1890, which have 

 appeared as earlv as the slow work of compilation in the Census Office could furnish 

 the material, is published in this volume. Taken together, they form probably the 

 most convenient compendium of the census that can be obtained. 



In other lands the most interesting movements of the year were the bloody 

 insurrections in Cuba and the Philippine Islands, with Spain's determined attempt 

 to retain those colonies by force of arms, and the massacres in Armenia and the 

 Greek war in Crete. All these are fully recorded, with maps of Cuba and Crete. 



In the realm of science that which has excited the greatest popular interest is 

 the development of the X-ray process of photographing through opaque substances, 

 and this is described under the title " Rontgen Kays." with illustrations, and with it 

 are a sketch and portrait of Eontgen, the discoverer of the process. Another 

 important event in science was the completion of Herbert Spencer's great life work, 

 his " Synthetic Philosophy." When we think how many great works in science and 

 literature have been left unfinished because their projectors found them too vast for 

 a single lifetime, it is a matter for special congratulation that Mr. Spencer has lived 

 to write the final page of his. To this volume Prof. Hudson, of Stanford Uni- 

 versity, contributes a critical and descriptive sketch of Mr. Spencer and his books, 

 which we illustrate with a fine photogravure portrait. Other scientific subjects are 

 treated in the articles " Astronomy," " Chemistry." " Metallurgy." " Meteorology," 

 " Physics," " Physiology," and Associations for the Advancement of Science. 



One who completed her great literary work much earlier in life, and saw it trans- 

 lated into a score of languages and more widely circulated than any other novel that 

 ever came from the press, passed away in 1896. " Uncle Tom's Cabin " still stands 

 first among books called for at the various circulating libraries, and still sells largely 

 every year. We present a sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life, with a photogravure portrait 

 and a view of the house in which she wrote the famous book. Other eminent 

 authors who passed away during the year were William Morris, the poet and artistic 

 designer, and George Du Maurier. the author of " Trilby," who was also an artist. 

 Of both of these we give portraits and views of their dwellings. 



