520 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



the year 1500. The Royal Library at Munich 

 contains 900,000 volumes, including 13,000 

 incunabula, and 22,000 manuscripts. The 

 Royal Library at Dresden is a collection of 

 500,000 volumes, among which are included 

 some of the scarcest specimens of early print- 

 ing, among others the Mainz Psalter of 1457, 

 the first book printed with a date. The Royal 

 Library of Berlin contains about 700,000 vol- 

 umes of printed books, and 15,000 volumes of 

 manuscripts. Of the other libraries in Ger- 

 many, that of the University of Gottingen con- 

 tains upward of 500,000 volumes, the Ducal 

 Library of Wolfenbuttel about 270,000 vol- 

 umes, and the University Library at Stras- 

 burg over 513,000 books and manuscripts. In 

 Holland, the principal library is the Royal 

 Library at the Hague, containing about 200,- 

 000 printed volumes. The Royal Library at 

 Copenhagen contains nearly 550,000 volumes. 

 The largest library in Sweden is that of the 

 University of Upsala, consisting of nearly 200,- 

 000 volumes. One of its chief treasures is 

 the famous, manuscript of the Gothic Gospels 

 of Ulfilas, commonly known as the Codex Ar- 

 genteus. The number of volumes in the Impe- 

 rial Library of St. Petersburg, Russia, is esti- 

 mated to be at least 900,000, in addition to 

 35,000 manuscripts. 



Church of England. Up to the time 

 of the Reformation, ecclesiastical affairs would 

 be more properly described as the history of 

 the Church in England, as from that period 

 the Church of England dates her existence. 

 From the eighth to the sixteenth century the 

 English Church was subject to Rome ; but for 

 the last two hundred years the seed sown by 

 Wycliffe had been bearing fruit and preparing 

 the people for a final separation, the immedi- 

 ate occasion for which was found in the royal 

 caprice of Henry VIII. Front 1066 to 1356 

 there was a constant struggle between the civil 

 and ecclesiastical powers. Then came Wyc- 

 liffe 's translation of the Bible into English 

 and his continued war against some of the 

 leading doctrines of the Romish Church, which 

 led to the formation of a new sect called Lol- 

 lards (See LOLLARDS), holding views similar 

 to those of the present Church. Despite per- 

 secutions, the new doctrines spread and had 

 many adherents. The Reformation is ordi- 

 narily assigned to the reign of Henry VIII., 

 the two most important acts being passed in 

 1532 and 1534 ; but the main feature of these 

 acts was the declaration of the independence 

 of the Church in England and the supremacy 

 of the king over that Church. They had cast 

 off the bondage of Rome, but in doctrine the 

 churches were still in accord ; and it was not 

 until thirty years afterward 1563, in the 



reign of Queen Elizabeth that the Thirty- 

 Nine Articles of Faith were finally reviewed 

 and adopted, and the Protestant Church of 

 England finally and fully established. In 

 1801, by the " Act of Union," the Episcopal 

 churches in England and Ireland were united ; 

 but the latter church was disestablished and 

 disendowed in 1869. The Episcopal Church 

 in Scotland is not, politically speaking, in 

 union with that of England ; but an Act of 

 Parliament, passed in 1864, has taken away 

 many restrictions imposed on Scottish Episco- 

 palians after the battle of Culloden, and 

 clergy ordained by Scotch bishops may now, 

 under some slight restrictions, be presented to 

 benefices in England. 



Christian Association, Young Men's. 

 Associations of young men for Christian 

 work have existed in Great Britain and Ire- 

 land, for upward of two centuries, and also in 

 Germany and Switzerland. In 1710 it is re- 

 corded that Cotton Mather addressed kindred 

 societies in New England, which were known 

 as " Young Men Associated." In 1849, the 

 societies which had been established in Ger- 

 many took a wider. scope, and from these as- 

 sociations grew the German associations of the 

 present day. The English Young Men's Chris- 

 tian Association commenced in a meeting of 

 clerks organized by George Williams in a mer- 

 cantile establishment in London in 1844. The 

 example of the British metropolis was speedily 

 followed by the various cities of Great Britain 

 founding associations, and in December, 1851, 

 America caught the enthusiasm of the move- 

 ment, and formed an association in Montreal, 

 modeled after the one in London. Then Bos- 

 ton undertook the formation of one for itself, 

 and their growth and influence since that time 

 have been simply wonderful. They now flour- 

 ish in every Protestant Christian country ; 

 and in almost every place where a colony of 

 Christians are gathered, these associations are 

 to be found. 



Blind, Education of The, The main 

 end to be sought in the education of the blind 

 is to fit them to compete in as many ways as 

 possible with the more fortunate who can see, 

 and take them out of their despondency and 

 give them a worthy object to accomplish in 

 life. The first institution for the blind was 

 founded in Memmingen by W r eef VI. in 1178, 

 the second in Paris by Louis IX. in 1260, and 

 the first for the employment of the adult blind 

 in Edinburgh by Dr. Johnston in 1793. The 

 work in a school for the blind is about equal 

 to the ordinary high school course. Pupils are 

 classified as in other schools ; but persons who 

 become blind at the age of twenty, for instance, 

 must begin with the alphabet, as little children 





