386 



GUATEMALA. 



Griscom, LL. D. He received his early educa- 

 tion in the collegiate school of the Society 

 of Friends, studied medicine with Profs. John 

 D. Godman and ValentineMott, and took his de- 

 gree of M. D. in the University of Pennsylvania 

 in 1832. The following year he was appointed 

 Assistant Physician to the New York Dispen- 

 sary, of which he became Physician in 1834. 

 From 1836 to 1840 he was Professor of Chemis- 

 try in the New York College of Pharmacy, and 

 in 1842 he was appointed City Inspector, which 

 position he held one year, when he became 

 Visiting Physician of New York Hospital, in 

 which service he continued until a few years 

 since. From 1848 to 1851 he was General 

 Agent of the Commissioners of Emigration. 

 He was also identified with the managemen-t 

 of the New York Prison Association, the Juve- 

 nile Reformatory, the Home for the Friendless, 

 the New York Sanitary Association, the Social 

 Science Association, and the New York Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science and 

 Art. Of the la=t-named association he was 

 one of the founders, the first president, and 

 long its most zealous and efficient member. He 

 was through life a strict adherent of the Soci- 

 ety of Friends. Dr. Griscom wrote much and 

 ably on medical, sanitary, hygienic, and scien- 

 tific topics. His principal published works 

 are " Animal Mechanism and Physiology " 

 (1839) ; " Sanitary Condition of the Laboring 

 Classes of New York ; " " The Uses and Abuses 

 of Air, and the Means of the Ventilation of 

 Buildings" (1850); "An Oration before the 

 Academy of Medicine" (1854); "A Memoir 

 of John Griscom, LL. D." (1859); " Essays on 

 Prison Reform ; " and numerous papers in the 

 medical journals; and we believe he also edited 

 an American edition of the " Life and Times 

 of Stephen Grellet." 



GUATEMALA (REPUBLIOA DE GUATEMALA), 

 one of the five independent states of Central 

 America, stretching from 13 50' to 18 15' 

 north latitude, and from 88 14' to 93 12' 

 west longitude. Its boundaries are : north, 

 the Mexican State of Chiapas ; east, Balize 

 and the Caribbean Sea; south, Honduras and 

 San Salvador; and southwest and west, the 

 Pacific Ocean. Guatemala has as yet no writ- 

 ten constitution, a circumstance consequent on 

 the radical changes that have taken place 

 there. 



The territory of the republic embraces an 

 area of 40,777 square miles ; and the popula- 

 tion, in 1873, was estimated at 1,200,000 ap- 

 proximately, that of the capital being set 

 down at 45,000 in 1874. Details of the pro- 

 portions of the various elements constituting 

 the population may be found in the ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPEDIA for 1873, page 344. 



Two attempts have been made to plant col- 

 onies in Guatemala: one at Boca Nueva, and 

 the other at Santo Tomas, both on the Atlan- 

 tic coast. None have as yet been formed on 

 the Pacific coast. 'The colonists of Boca Nue- 

 va established themselves on the banks of 



a branch of the Polochique, and traded with 

 the interior by Vera Paz ; those of Santo To- 

 mas, one of the finest harbors on the Carib- 

 bean coast, proposed to open up a road to the 

 capital by way of the department of Chiquimu- 

 la, where it would be easy to take advantage 

 of a part of the river Motagua. The natives 

 affirm that these attempts at colonization were 

 powerfully aided by the British minister in 

 Guatemala. Some years ago a Belgian com- 

 pany took the subject up, and attracted the 

 attention of a great number of families in 

 Belgium, Luxemburg, South Germany, and 

 France. Central America was then much less 

 known than it is at present. After a consid- 

 erable expenditure of time and money, the 

 company obtained the concession of the dis- 

 trict of Santo Tomas, but the climate proved 

 unfavorable to European constitutions; and, 

 besides, the bad management of the colony, 

 the pretensions of the Government commis- 

 sioner, and, above all, the difficulty of com- 

 municating quickly with the capital, presented 

 serious obstacles to the success of the scheme. 

 The colonists finding themselves tyrannized 

 over by the directors, uncared for by the Gov- 

 ernment, and by agents who ought to have 



protected them, and defrauded by the Belgian 

 consul, many of them endeavored to go back 

 to their own countries. In three months, 

 from August to October, in the year 1844, four 

 hundred Belgian colonists died in Santo To- 

 mas, chiefly from neglect ; for, although, by 

 treaty between the company and the Govern- 

 ment, the colonists were received and adopted 

 as citizens of Guatemala, when trouble and 

 sickness set in, the Government took no fur- 

 ther concern about their condition. 

 . Another cause of failure was the death of 

 the chief agent of the company, who proposed 

 several improvements which, if carried out, 

 would not only have insured the prosperity of 



