94 



CENTEAL AMERICA. 



CHEMISTRY. 



partnients: San Union, San Miguel, Usulutan, 

 Sail Vicente, La Paz, Cuscatlan, San Salvador, 

 Sonsonate, Santa Anna, Chalantenango. Area, 

 7,500 square miles. Population about 600,000. 

 The budget of 1866 estimates the receipts at 

 628,252 dollars; and expenditures at 524,329 

 dollars. Imports in 1865 were valued at 2,130,- 

 641 dollars; and exports at 2,306,334 (the prin- 

 cipal articles of export are indigo, sugar, cot- 

 ton, coffee, etc.) In 1865 24 American (United 

 States) steamers entered the ports of the re- 

 public. 



3. HONDURAS.* President, Jose Maria Me- 

 dina (February, 1866-February, 1870). Ac- 

 cording to the new Constitution, which was 

 adopted in November, 1865, the Legislative 

 Assembly consists of 1 1 deputies, and the Sen- 

 ate of 7 members. The Council of State em- 

 braces the ministers and 7 other members. 

 Ministers, exterior and interior, PoncianoLeiva; 

 war and finances, Saturino Bogran. Area, 

 33,000 square miles. Population about 350,000 

 inhabitants. The republic is divided into the 

 following seven departments : Comayagua, Te- 

 jucigalpa, Choluteca, Santa Barbara, Gracias, 

 Yoro, Olancho. The capital, Comayagua, has 

 about 18,000 inhabitants. Minister of the 

 United States at Comayagua, R. H. Rousseau 

 (appointed in 1866). Receipts of the Govern- 

 ment about 200,000; expenditures, 183,000: 

 annual surplus, about' 17,000 dollars. Value 

 of imports (mostly from Great Britain), about 

 750,000; exports, 825,000 dollars. Chief port, 

 Omoa. 



4. NICARAGUA.* President (1863-1867), To- 

 mas Martinez. The State ministry was com- 

 posed as follows : Foreign Affairs, Dr. Rosalio 

 Cortez; Interior, BonaventuraSilva; Finances, 

 Dr. B. Portocarrero ; Instruction, Justice, and 

 Worship, A. Silva. Area (after the reannexa- 

 tion of Greytown and the Mosquito Territory), 

 57,780 square miles. Population about 400,000. 

 The republic is divided (according to the Mapa 

 de la, Republics de Nicaragua lenantada por 

 orden del Gobierno, par M. de Sonnenstern, 

 1859) into the ollowing five departments : Ri- 

 vas, Granada, Leon, Segovia, Matagalpa. Capi- 

 tal, Managua, with about 10,000 inhabitants. 



5. COSTA RICA.* President (1866-1869), Dr. 

 Jos6 Maria Castro. Area, about 21,440 square 

 miles. The population, according to the censuses 

 of 1844 and 1864, was as follows : 



The capital, San Jose, has about 30,000 in- 

 habitants. 



* Tor other information, see ANNUAL CYCLOP.EDIA for 1866. 



CESARINI, Duke SFORZA, a Roman nobje- 

 man, and chief of the historic house of 

 Sforza, born at Rome in 1807, died atPinerolo, 

 near Turin, July 16, 1866. He early displayed 

 much ability both in private and public life. 

 Mild, pleasant, and unassuming in manner to- 

 ward his subordinates, he was an able and 

 faithful administrator of his extensive and di- 

 versified estates, acting for the most part as his 

 own steward, and introducing among the rural 

 population such improvements as considerably 

 ameliorated the land, and at the same time took 

 a deep interest in the education of the poorer 

 classes. As a representative of the district 

 of Santa Fiora, he was created deputy in the 

 Italian Parliament in 1860 ; later he was raised 

 to senatorial honors, and decorated with the 

 "commenda" of St. Maurice and Lazarus by 

 the king's hand. He was also selected to be 

 the representative of the Italian Government 

 at Viterbo during the short period when the 

 city had proclaimed its aspirations to liberty. 

 The late duke was a steadfast adherent to the 

 policy of Piedmont, and therefore declined to 

 take part in the Roman republic, when the lat- 

 ter, for a brief season, flourished under the au- 

 spices of Mazzini. 



CHEMISTRY. The year 1866 was not dis- 

 tinguished by any remarkable discoveries in 

 chemistry, or by the promulgation of any chemi- 

 cal theory of striking novelty or interest. It can 

 only be said that a good degree of general prog- 

 ress is perceptible in the several departments 

 of chemical science, and that its importance as 

 a branch of popular education is more and more 

 recognized by the public. The application, dur- 

 ing the year, of the spectroscope (originally in- 

 tended for the examination of earthy products) 

 to the analysis of the constituent elements of 

 the heavenly bodies, is a pleasing illustration 

 of the correlation of the sciences, showing how 

 surely progress in any one department of knowl- 

 edge contributes to progress in all. (See As- . 



TRONOMICAL PHENOMENA, etc.) 



In the preparation of the following resume of 

 chemical intelligence, the editor would acknowl- 

 edge his indebtedness to the American Journal 

 of Science, and the Chemical News (London). 



New Elements. A new metal was announced 

 by MM. Meinecke and Rossler, to the French 

 Academy, toward the -end of the year. They 

 say that it was discovered by them in the anal- 

 ysis of a mineral water, that it is allied to the 

 alkaline series, and gives a sharp, dark-blue line 

 in the spectroscope, in a different position to 

 that given by indium. Further particulars will 

 be awaited with interest; but so many new 

 elements have been announced from time to 

 time, the claims of which have subsequently 

 proved to be unfounded, that no general aston- 

 ishment will be expressed if the expectations of 

 MM. Meinecke and Rossler should turn out to 

 be fallacious. As to MAGNESIUM, the new metal 

 (new at least in the mode of its preparation upon 

 a commercial scale), it has not filled the place 

 in the arts for which it seemed to be especially 



