118 



CHILI. 



To test this conclusion, a piece of wrought-iron 

 pipe six inches long and f inch external diameter, and 

 rather over -ft inch thick, was used ; this was cleaned 

 in a lathe both outside and inside. Over one end was 

 soldered a piece of copper, so as to stop it, and the 

 other end was connected with a glass tube by means 

 of a tube of India-rubber. The glass and iron tubes 

 were then filled with olive-oil, and the iron tube im- 

 mersed in cold dilute sulphuric acid. After five min- 

 utes bubbles began to pass up the glass tube, which 

 were caught at the top, and subsequently burnt, prov- 

 ing to be hydrogen. But the evolution of gas was ex- 

 tremely slow. Warm, freshly- diluted acid, however, 

 caused the hydrogen to come oif much more quickly. 

 A lamp was then placed under the bath, and when 

 the dilute acid was on the point of boiling, as much 

 hydrogen was given off in five seconds as Lad previ- 

 ously come off in ten minutes. After having been 

 in acid for some time, the tube was taken out, well 

 washed with cold water and soap, so as to remove 

 all trace of the acid ; it was then plunged into a bath 

 of hot water, upon which gas came off so rapidly 

 from both the outside and inside of the tube as to 

 give the appearance of the action of strong acid. 

 This action lasted for some time, but gradually di- 

 minished. It could be stopped at any time by the 

 substitution of cold water in place of the hot, and it 

 was renewed again after several hours by again put- 

 ting the tube in hot water. The volume of hydro- 

 fen which was thus given off by the tube after it 

 ad been taken out of hot acid was about equal to 

 the volume of the iron. With regard to the frothing 

 of the wire when broken and wetted, this was due to 

 warmth caused in the wire by the act of breaking. 

 This was proved by the fact that the froth appeared 

 on the sides of the wire in the imniediate neighbor- 

 hood of the fracture, when these were wetted, as well 

 as the end ; and by simply_ bending the wire it could 

 be made to froth at the point where it was bent. If, 

 as is probable, the saturation of iron with hydrogen 

 takes place whenever oxidation goes on in water, 

 then the iron of boilers and ships may at times be 

 changed in character and rendered brittle in the 

 same manner as Mr. Johnson's wire ; and this, wheth- 

 er it can be prevented or not, is at least an impor- 

 tant point to know, and would repay a further inves- 

 tigation of the subject. 



CHILI (REpfj-BLioA DE CHILE), an indepen- 

 dent state of South America, comprised be- 

 tween the 24th and 56th parallels of south 

 latitude, and longitude 70 and 74 west ; and 

 bounded north by Bolivia, east by the Argentine 

 Republic and Patagonia, with which the great 

 chain of the Andes serves as boundary, south 

 by Cape Horn, and west by the Pacific Ocean. 

 The vexed question of title to Patagonia is still 

 the subject of angry discussion between this 

 republic and the Argentine ; but here the arbi- 

 trary policy of Chili elicited little sympathy, 

 and, should war have followed, public opinion 

 would have regarded the Santiago Government 

 as chiefly to blame. Report represented Chili 

 as about to take formal possession of the entire 

 territory from Santa Cruz River southward to 

 the Straits of Magellan, which would seem to 

 be a breach of the compact between the two 

 countries that neither should exercise jurisdic- 

 tion over any portion of the territory until a mu- 

 tually satisfactory solution should be reached ; 

 but Chili is said to have alleged, in its own de- 

 fense, that the Argentines were the first to 

 violate the agreement by erecting a fort on the 

 southern bank of the river alluded to. It 

 would, however, appear that the Argentine 



Government proposed to leave the matter to 

 arbitration, as in the case of previous treaties. 

 The territory, which comprises an area of 

 133,223 square miles, or 248,813 including the 

 115,590 square miles of Patagonian territory to 

 which Chili urges a claim, is divided into six- 

 teen provinces (that of Linares having been 

 formed by a law promulgated on December 

 11, 1873, from a portion of the province of 

 Maule). The provinces, as they now stand, 

 with their population in 1872, are as follows : 



Provinces. Population. 



Aconcagua 135,323 



Arauco 90,158 



Atacama 84,074 



Chiloe" 64,148 



Colchagua 155,778 



Concepcion 157,860 



Coquimbo 160,701 



Curic6 102,281 



Llanquihue 44,339 



Maule 1 214303 



Linares j aM*w 



Jfuble 128, 182 



Santiago 380,419 



Talca 109,344 



Valdivia 28,938 



Valparaiso 146,729 



Magellan Colony 749 



Total 2,033,046 



Hence it would appear that the population 

 has increased by nearly 31,000 from 1870 to 

 1872. The foreign population in Chili amounts 

 to some 20,000, chiefly English, Germans, and 

 French. 



The President of the Republic is Sefior F. 

 Errazuriz, inaugurated on September 18, 1871. 



The Minister of the Interior is E. Altami- 

 rano (September 18, 1871) ; Foreign Affairs 

 and Colonization, A. Ibafiez (December 9, 

 1871) ; Justice, Public Worship, and Public 

 Instruction, J. A. Barcelo ; Finance, R. Barros 

 Luco ; and War and the Navy, A. Pinto (Sep- 

 tember 18, 1871). 



The Council of State, the president of which 

 is the President of the Republic, is composed 

 of two members from each of the courts of 

 justice, one church dignitary, one general, the 

 director-in-chiefof one of the Departments of 

 Finance, two ex-ministers, and two ex-intend- 

 ants. 



The President of the Supreme Court of San- 

 tiago is Sefior Montt. There is a Court of Ap- 

 peals at Santiago, Concepcion, and La Serena. 

 The Postmaster-General is Sefior J. M. Riesco. 



The present Archbishop of Santiago is the 

 Rt. Rev. R. N. Valdivieso ; the Bishop of La 

 Serena is M. Orrego ; of Concepcion, J. II. 

 Salas ; and of San Carlos de Chiloe, Seiior de 

 Paule Solar. 



The Chilian charge d'affaires ad interim at 

 Washington is Seijor F. G. Errazuriz ; and the 

 consul at New York, Mr. Rogers. 



The regular army is composed of nine gen- 

 erals, 10 colonels, 34 .lieutenant-colonels, 57 

 majors, 138 captains. 266 lieutenants, 2,000 in- 

 fantry, 712 horse, and 804 artillery ; total 3,- 

 516 men. Of the 514 officers, 41 field and 

 125 subaltern belong to the National Guard. 



The National Guard is made up as follows : 



