172 



GERMANY 



than Wales, and Baden and Saxony are neither of 

 them equal to Yorkshire. Waldeck is about 

 equal to Bedford, and Reuss-Greiz is smaller than 

 Rutland, the smallest English county. The Duke 

 of Sutherland's estates (1838 sq. m.) are larger in 

 area than all Mecklenburg-Strelitz, or than all 

 Brunswick, respectively tenth and ninth in size of 

 the German states. The Duke of Buccleuch's 

 Scottish estates alone (676 sq. in.) exceed in area 

 Saxe-Altenburg or any of the eleven smaller states. 



In 1890 Berlin, the capital of the empire, had 

 1 ,579,244 inhabitants ; Leipzig, 353,272 ; Munich, 

 -S48,317; Breslau, 335,174; Hamburg, 323,923; 

 Cologne, 281,273; Dresden, 276,085; Magdeburg, 

 :?02,325. There were in all 26 towns with a popu- 

 i-ition of above 100,000; 21 between 50,000 and 

 100,000 ; and 39 between 30,000 and 50,000. 



Besides the political divisions above mentioned, 

 there are certain distinctive appellations applied to 

 different parts of Germany, which have been derived 

 either from the names and settlements of the ancient 

 Germanic tribes, or from the circles and other great 

 subdivisions of the old empire. Thus, the name of 

 1 Swabia ' is still applied in common parlance to the 

 districts embracing the greater part of Wiirtem- 

 berg, southern Baden, south-western Bavaria, and 

 Hohenzollern ; ' Franconia,' to the Main districts 

 of Barnberg, Schweinf urt, and Wiirzburg ; ' the 

 Palatinate, to Rhenish Bavaria and the north of 

 Baden ; ' the Rhineland,' to portions of Baden, 

 Rhenish Prussia, Bavaria, Hesse-Darmstadt, and 

 Nassau ; ' Voigtland,' to the high. ground between 

 Hof and Plauen ; ' Thuringia,' to the districts lying 

 between the Upper Saale and the Werra, as Saxe- 

 Weimar, &c. ; ' Lusatia,' to the eastern part of 

 Saxony ; ' East Friesland,' to the country between 

 the Lower Weser and Ems ; and ' Westphalia, ' to 

 the district extending between Lower Saxony, the 

 Netherlands, Thuringia, and Hesse, to the German 

 Ocean. The four Saxon duchies and the four 

 Schwarzlmrg and Reuss principalities are frequently 

 grouped together as the ' Thuririgian States. 



Physical Character. Germany presents two very 

 distinct physical formations. ( 1 ) A range of high 

 tableland, occupying the centre and southern parts 

 of the country, interspersed with numerous ranges 

 and groups of mountains, the most important of 

 which are the Harz and Teutoburgerwald, in the 

 north ; the Taunus, Thiiringerwald, Erzgebirge, 

 and Riesengebirge, in the middle ; and the Black 

 Forest ( Schwarzwald ), Rauhe Alb, and Bavarian 

 Alps in the south ; and containing an area, includ- 

 ing Alsace and Lorraine, of 110,000 sq. m. The 

 Brocken is 3740 feet high ; the Vosges reach .4700 ; 

 the Feldberg in the Black Forest is 4903 ; and the 

 Zugspitz in the Noric Alps of Bavaria, the highest 

 peak in Germany, is 9665 feet in height. ( 2 ) A vast 

 sandy plain, which extends from the centre of the 

 empire north to the German Ocean, and including 

 Sleswick-Holstein, contains an area of about 98,000 

 sq. m. This great plain, stretching from the Rus- 

 sian frontier on the east to the Netherlands on the 

 west, is varied by two terrace-like elevations. The 

 one stretches from the Vistula into Mecklenburg, at 

 no great distance from the coast of the Baltic, and 

 has a mean elevation of 500 to 600 feet, rising in 

 one point near Danzig to 1020 feet ; the other line 

 of elevations begins in Silesia and terminates in the 

 moorlands of Liineburg in Hanover, its course 

 being marked by several summits from 500 to 800 

 feet in height. A large portion of the plain is 

 occupied by sandy tracts interspersed with deposits 

 of peat ; but other parts are moderately fertile, and 

 admit of successful cultivation. 



The surface of Germany may be regarded as 

 belonging to three drainage basins. The Danube 

 (q.v.) from its source in the Black Forest to the 

 borders of Austria belongs to Germany ; and 



through its channel the waters of the greater part 

 of Bavaria are poured into the Black Sea. Its 

 chief tributaries are the Iller, Lech, Isar, and Inn 

 on the right ; and the Altmiihl, Nab, and Regen 

 on the left. By far the greater part of the surface 

 (about 185,000 sq. m. ) has a northern slope, and 

 belongs partly to the basin of the North Sea, partly 

 to that of the Baltic. The chief German streams 

 flowing into the North Sea are the Rhine (q.v.), 

 with its tributaries the Neckar, Main, Lahn, Sieg, 

 Wupper, Ruhr, and Lippe on the right, and the 111 

 and Moselle on the left ; the Weser (q.v.), with its 

 tributary the Aller ; and the Elbe (q.v.), with its 

 tributaries the Havel, Mulde, and Saale. Into the 

 Baltic How the Oder (q.v.), with its tributaries the 

 Warthe, Neisse, and Bober ; the Vistula (q.v.), or 

 in German Weichsel, with its tributaries the Narew, 

 Drewenz, and Brahe ; the Memel ; and the Pregel. 



The natural and artificial waterways of Germany 

 are extensive, especially in the northern plain. 

 The most important of the numerous canals which 

 connect the great river-systems of Germany are 

 Ludwig's Canal (110 miles long) in Bavaria, which, 

 by uniting the Danube and Main, opens a com- 

 munication between the Black Sea and the German 

 Ocean; the Finow (40 miles) and Friedrich-W T il- 

 helm's (20 miles) canals in Brandenburg ; the Plane 

 Canal (20 miles), between the Elbe and the Havel ; 

 the Kiel and Eider Canal (21 miles), uniting the 

 Baltic and German Ocean ; and the canals between 

 the Oder and Vistula, Rhine and Rhone ( 225 miles ), 

 and Rhine, Marne, and Seine (165 miles). The 

 North Sea and Baltic Canal, from Brunsbiittel at 

 the mouth of the Elbe to Kiel, begun in 1887 and 

 finished in 1895, was designed mainly for the use of 

 warships. Numerous lakes occur both in the table- 

 land of southern Germany (Bavaria) and in the 

 low lands of the northern districts, but few of them 

 are of any great size. The so-called ' Haffs ' of the 

 north coasts are extensive bays at the me iths of 

 great rivers, so curiously landlocked as to practically 

 form huge lagoons or coast-lakes. The chief are 

 the Stettiner Haff, the Frische Half' at Koriigs- 

 berg, and the Kurische Haft' at Memel. Ger- 

 many abounds in swamps and marsh-lands, which 

 are especially numerous in the low northern dis- 

 tricts. Its mineral springs occur principally in 

 Nassau, Wiirtemberg, Baden, Bavaria, and Rhenish 

 Prussia. Many of these springs have retained their 

 high reputation from the earliest ages. 



Geology. The great plain of North Germany 

 consists of strata of the same age as the Tertiary 

 strata of the Paris basin, covered with very recent 

 sand and mud. Newer Tertiary beds occupy the 

 river-basin of the Rhine north from Mainz ; they 

 consist of fine light-coloured loam, and contain 

 the bones of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and other 

 contemporaneous mammals. Erratics are scattered 

 over the north of Germany. The whole district in 

 the centre of Germany, from the Danube north- 

 wards to Hanover, consists of Secondary strata. 

 The rocks of the Trias period are best known in 

 Germany, the typical rocks of Bunter Sandstein, 

 Muschelkalk, and Keuper being developed here 

 so as to justify the name Trias. The Trias is 

 highly fossiliferous, abounding especially in marine 

 shells, and containing several genera of remark- 

 able labyrinthodont saurians. Jurassic rocks 

 occur in central Germany ; at Hanover they 

 consist of clays and marl, with beds of sandstone 

 and limestone, containing coal and ironstone of such 

 value that they have been extensively wrought. 

 Intruded igneous rocks have tilted the beds of the 

 Cretaceous strata in some districts to a nearly 

 vertical position, and have metamorphosed them 

 into crystalline marbles and siliceous sandstones. 



Of the Palaeozoic rocks, the Carboniferous strata 

 are almost entirely absent from Germany. The 



