09* 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



taineers are always free. Wisconsin. For- 

 ward. United States. E pluribus unum : From 

 many, one. Annuit cceptis : God has favored 

 the undertaking. Novus ordo seculorum: A 

 new order of ages. The first named on one side 

 of the great seal, the other two on the reverse. 



Barrenness. One woman in 20, one man 

 in 30 about 4 per cent. It is found that one 

 marriage in 20 is barren 5 per cent. Among 

 the nobility of Great Britain, 21 per cent, have 

 no children, owing partly to intermarriage of 

 cousins, no less than 4 per cent, being mar- 

 ried to cousins. 



Meteoric Stones. A meteoric stone, 

 which is described by Pliny as being as large as 

 a wagon, fell near^Egospotami, in Asia Minor, 

 in 467 B. C. About A. D. 1500 a stone 

 weighing 1,400 pounds fell in Mexico, and is 

 now in the Smithsonian Institution at Wash- 

 ington. The largest meteoric masses on record 

 were heard of first by Captain Ross, the Arctic 

 explorer, through some Esquimaux. These 

 lay on the west coast of Greenland, and were 

 subsequently found by the Swedish Exploring 

 Expedition of 1870. One of them, now in 

 the Royal Museum of Stockholm, weighs over 

 50,000 pounds, and is the largest specimen 

 known. Two remarkable meteorites have 

 fallen in Iowa within the past thirteen years. 

 On February 12, 1875, an exceedingly bril- 

 liant meteor, in the form of an elongated 

 horseshoe, was seen throughout a region of at 

 least 400 miles in length and 250 in breadth, 

 lying in Missouri and Iowa. It is described 

 as " without a tail, but having a sort of flow- 

 ing jacket of flame. Detonations were heard, 

 so violent as to shake the earth and to jar the 

 windows like the shock of an earthquake," as 

 it fell, at about 10.30 o'clock p. M., a few 

 miles east of Marengo, Iowa. The ground 

 for the space of some seven miles in length by 

 two to four miles in breadth was strewn with 

 fragments of this meteor, varying in weight 

 from a few ounces to seventy-four pounds. On 

 May 10, 1879, a large and extraordinarily lumi- 

 nous meteor exploded with terrific noise, fol- 

 lowed at slight intervals with less violent 

 detonations, and struck the earth in the edge 

 of a ravine near Estherville, Emmet County, 

 Iowa, penetrating to a depth of fourteen feet. 

 Within two miles other fragments were found, 

 one of which weighed 170 pounds and another 

 thirty-two pounds. The principal mass 

 weighed 431 pounds. All the discovered parts 

 aggregated about 640 pounds. The one of 170 

 pounds is now in the cabinet of the State Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota. The composition of 

 this aerolite is peculiar in many respects ; but, 

 as in nearly all aerolites, there is a considerable 

 proportion of iron and nickel. 



Woman Suffrage. The constitution of 

 the Colony of New Jersey granted suffrage to 

 all inhabitants, under certain qualifications, 

 irrespective of sex. This act was repealed, 

 however, in 1807. The first Woman's Rights 

 convention was held July 19, 1848, at Seneca 

 Falls, N. Y., and its claims for women were 

 based upon the Declaration of Independence. 

 On October 23, 1850, a National Woman's 

 Rights Convention was held at Worcester, 

 Mass. From that time until 1868 the subject 

 was agitated in America and England, but no 

 decisive action was taken. In the latter year 

 the American Equal Rights Association pre- 

 sented the .first petition for woman suffrage to 

 Congress. Two years later (1868) the New 

 England Woman Suffrage Association was 

 formed, and the work of memorializing Legis- 

 latures and Congress, holding conventions and 

 circulating documents, began in earnest. By 

 1870 the agitation had assumed such propor- 

 tions that the Republican Convention in Mas- 

 sachusetts, held October 5th of that year, ad- 

 mitted Lucy Stone and Mary A. Livermore as 

 regularly accredited delegates. Since then sev- 

 eral State conventions have indorsed woman 

 suffrage. December 10, 1869, the Legislature 

 of the territory of Wyoming granted the right 

 of suffrage to women. The same right was 

 granted in 1883 in the territory of Washington 

 but has since been declared unconstitutional. 

 Woman suffrage, limited to school elections or 

 school meetings, has been conferred in the 

 states of Kansas, Washington, Nebraska, New 

 Hampshire, Texas, Vermont, Arizona, the Da- 

 kotas, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Wis- 

 consin, Massacnusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, 

 and New tork. In the two latter states the 

 law requires that they be tax -payers. Widows 

 and unmarried women may vote as to special 

 district taxes in state of Idaho if they hold 

 taxable property. In Kentucky any white 

 widow having a child of school age is a quali- 

 fied school voter ; if she has no child, but is a 

 tax-payer, she may vote on the question of 

 taxes. In Oregon widows having children and 

 taxable property may vote at school meetings. 

 Widows, or unmarried women not minors who 

 pay taxes and are listed as parents, guardians, 

 or heads of families, may vote at school meet- 

 ings in Indiana. They have full municipal 

 suffrage in Kansas, and vote on the sale of liq- 

 uor in Arkansas and Mississippi. In England, 

 Scotland, and Wales women (unless married) 

 vote for all elective officers, except member of 

 Parliament, on like terms with men. In Ire- 

 land women vote everywhere for poor-law 

 guardians ; in Dundalk and other seaports, for 

 harbor boards ; in Belfast, for all municipal 

 officers. In Sweden their suffrage is about the 



