RELIGION, EDUCATION, FINE ARTS. 



519 



iton of the Bourbons. It meets at the Palace 

 Mazarin, Paris. Its chief officer is its secre- 

 tary, who has a life tenure of his position. 

 He receives a salary of 12,000 francs a year, 

 the society being allowed by the Government 

 85,000 francs a year for the payment of its 

 officers and the care of its library. The Acad- 

 emy is always to consist of forty members, 

 all vacancies being filled by the votes of those 

 already composing the body. To belong to it 

 is regarded as a high honor, the members be- 

 ing spoken of as " the forty immortals." 



Majolica Ware was first manufactured 

 in the island of Majolica, and from thence the 

 art was taken to Italy, where, during the four- 

 teenth and fifteenth centuries, it was carried 

 on to a considerable extent. A factory for 

 manufacturing this ware was established in 

 Fayence, France, in the latter century, and 

 the name faience was substituted for that of 

 majolica. About 1530, plates and other ware 

 were manufactured in Italy, decorated with 

 subjects derived from the compositions of 

 Raphael and Marc Antonio, and painted in gay 

 and brilliant colors. The establishment was 

 abandoned in 1574, but pieces of majolica 

 continued to be fabricated in various cities of 

 Italy till the eighteenth century. During the 

 decadence of the art of making enameled pot- 

 tery in Italy, it flourished greatly in France at 

 the famous Palissy pottery works at Paris and 

 the factories at Nevers and Ronen, where it was 

 manufactured till the end of the seventeenth 

 century. 



The Boxers are a Chinese secret society, 

 partly religious and partly patriotic. The 

 Chinese name of the society is Yi-Ho-Chuan, 

 meaning in English, "righteousness, harmony, 

 and ' fists ' " ; the derived name ' ( boxers ' ' has 

 evidently been applied because of the athletic 

 aspect the society first assumed. It was first 

 organized in groups which began gymnastic 

 exercises in the Chinese villages, and drilling as 

 a military organization was quickly developed, 

 with broadswords for arms. On account of the 

 swords the boxers have also been known as the 

 "Big Knives." They first made themselves 

 felt in Shan-Tung province, where the Ger- 

 mans secured the lease of Kiao-Chou bay, and 

 large railroad and mineral rights. Each band, 

 it is said, is governed by a " demonized " 

 leader, who, by the selection of an epileptic 

 patient, or, by the aid of hypnotism, causes a 

 medium to display wild and unnatural symp- 

 toms, or to utter wild and strange speech, this 

 serving as a basis for the claim of the society 

 to spiritual power. Every boxer is assured of 

 immunity from death or physical injury. The 

 assault upon Christianity by the boxers was 

 particularly directed against native converts, 



but later developed into a general anti-foreign 

 crusade. Though revolutionary in their meth- 

 ods they profess fealty to the reigning dynasty, 

 and devotion to the ancient religion, while 

 attacking the foreign influences which they 

 believe to be undermining the ancient institu- 

 tions and nationality of China. 



Libraries, Foreign. First among the 

 libraries of Great Britain, and second to few, 

 if any, on the continent, is that of the Brit- 

 ish Museum. It contains about 1,300,000 

 printed volumes, besides rare and extensive 

 collections of manuscripts, maps, prints, and 

 drawings. Next in rank is the Bodleyan or 

 Bodleian Library at Oxford, which contains 

 300, 000 volumes in addition to 20, 000 to 30,000 

 in manuscript. The third and fourth places are 

 occupied by the Public or University Library of 

 Cambridge, and the Library of the Faculty of 

 Advocates at Edinburgh, which are nearly on a 

 par as regards extent and value, containing 

 not less than 265,000 volumes each. The 

 Library of Trinity College, Dublin, with about 

 192,000 volumes, is the largest and most valu- 

 able in Ireland. These five libraries have long 

 been, and still are, entitled by statute to a free 

 copy of every book published in the empire. 

 The great National Library of France La 

 BiUiotlieque du Roi, as it used to be called, La 

 BiUiotlieque Nationale, as it is called at present 

 is one of the largest and most valuable col- 

 lections of books and manuscripts in the world. 

 The number of printed volumes contained in 

 it is estimated at nearly 2,500,000, and of 

 manuscripts at about 150,000. Among libra- 

 ries of the second class in Paris, the Arsenal 

 Library with 300,000 volumes, the Library of 

 Ste. Genevieve with 200,000, and the Mazarine 

 Library with 160,000, are the chief. In It- 

 aly the Library of the Vatican at Rome stands 

 pre-eminent. The number of printed vol- 

 umes is only about 200,000, but the manu- 

 script collection is the finest in the world. 

 The Casanata Library, also at Rome, is said to 

 contain 120,000 volumes ; the Ambrosian Li- 

 brary at Milan, 140,000 volumes; the Mag- 

 liabechi Library at Florence, 200,000 volumes ; 

 the Royal Library at Naples, 200,000 volumes ; 

 the Library of St. Mark's at Venice, 120,000 

 volumes and 10,000 manuscripts. The Lau- 

 rentian Library at Florence consists almost en- 

 tirely of manuscripts. The principal libraries 

 of Spain are the Biblioteca Nacional at Mad- 

 rid, numbering nearly 430,000 volumes, and 

 the Library of the Escorial, which contains 

 numerous manuscript volumes, treasures of 

 Arabic literature. The Imperial Library at 

 Vienna is a noble collection of not fewer than 

 400,000 volumes, of which 15,000 are of the 

 class called incunabula, or books printed before 



