PRUSSIA 



403 



lakes, the north-eastern parts of Pomerania, the 

 island of Kttgen, the valleys of the Oder in Silesia, 

 of the Saale, Moselle, Saar, and parts of Hesse- 

 Nassau. Magdebnrg is the centre of the beet-root 

 sugar industry. Western Prussia is noted for its 

 excellent fruits and vegetables, and its provinces 

 stand pre-eminent for their wines. Nassau is 

 specially famous for its Rhine wines. The forest- 

 lands, which are chiefly in East Prussia, Posen, 

 Upper Silesia, Westphalia, Southern Hanover, 

 ana Hesse- Nassau, are of great value and con- 

 siderable extent, occupying an area of 10,000,000 

 English acres. The mineral products of Prussia 

 include coal, iron, lead, zinc, copper, cobalt, anti- 

 mony, manganese, arsenic, sulphur, alum, nickel, 

 black lead, baryta, gypsum, slate, lime, freestone, 

 salt, amber, agate, jasper, onyx, &c. Prussia 

 yields about one-half of the annual zinc produc- 

 tion of the world ; and of the total output of coal 

 in Germany, about three-eighths of that of the 

 United Kingdom, Prussia produces 93 per cent. 

 The chief coalfields are in Silesia, Westphalia, and 

 Rhenish Prussia, which are at the same time the 

 chief industrial provinces of the kingdom. The 

 region of the Harz in Hanover is also famous for 

 its mining industries. All metals, salt, precious 

 stones, and amber found along the Prussian coast 

 from Danzig to Memel belong to the crown. Prussia 

 has upwards of 100 mineral springs, of which the 

 must noted and efficient are the sulphur baths of 

 Aix-la-Chapelle and Ems, the iron springs of 

 Schwalbach, Wilhelmsbad, Driburg, and the hot 

 and saline baths of Reinerz, Landeck, Flinsberg, 

 Freienwalde, Lauchstedt, Wiesbaden, Schlangen- 

 bad, and Sellers. East Prussia is noted for its 

 royal stnds, and the excellent breed of horses 

 which it now raises, and of which large numbers 

 are annually exported. Westphalia enjoys a 

 special reputation for the excellence of its hams 

 and pork, Pomerania for its smoked geese, and 

 Brandenburg and Hanover for honey and wax. 

 Fish of all sorts are abundant in the rivers and 

 numerous lakes ; seals are taken in the Baltic. The 

 wooded districts aliound in game of every kind, 

 pheasants, partridges, and wild geese being often 

 found in enormous quantities. Besides stags, 

 fallow-deer, wild lx>ars, foxes, otters, weasels, 

 polecats, martens, badgers, hares and rabbits, the 

 lynx, bear, eagle, and beaver are occasionally met 

 with. 



Manufactures. The principal manufactures are 

 linens, for which certain districts of Silesia, Prus- 

 sian Saxony, and Brandenburg enjoy a European 

 celebrity ; while of late years the cotton manufac- 

 tories, worked by steam, have maintained a suc- 

 cessful rivalry with the older linens, worked by 

 hand-looms. Besides these there are numerous 

 manufactories of silk, wool, mixed cotton and linen 

 fabrics ; including fine shawls and carpets in Bran- 

 denburg, stockings and ribbons in the Rhenish 

 provinces, where, as well as in Westphalia and 

 Hesse- Nassau, the flax, hemp, and silk and cotton 

 thread is mainly prepared for the manufacturers. 

 These districts, moreover, stand foremost in regard 

 to the preparation and manufacture of iron, steel 

 ( the steel and gun works of Krupn, at Essen, being 

 world-famous), and other metallic wares, paper, 

 leather, soap, oil, cigars, and tobacco, and for the 

 numl>er of their distilleries and breweries ; while 

 Saxony and Silesia have the largest number of 

 chicory, starch, l>eet-root, gunpowder, and glass 

 works. Berlin and Elberfeld rank as the two most 

 important centres of manufacture on the Continent. 

 In 1893-94 there were 316 beet-root sugar factories 

 in Prussia, which produced 1,001,804 tons of raw 

 sugar. In 1894 the total value of the minerals 

 produced in the kingdom was 576,679,725 marks (of 

 which nearly two-thirds came from the Rhine-land 



and Westphalia) ; while the mineral produce of the 

 German empire was only 675,000,000 marks. 



Commerce. The commerce of Prussia is materi- 

 ally facilitated by her central European position, 

 and the network of river and canal navigation, 

 which makes her the connecting medium between 

 several of the great European states, and which, 

 with (1895) 17,486 miles of railway, 40,500 miles 

 of public roads (all, or nearly all, formed since the 

 time of Frederick the Great), and a coast-line of 

 1000 miles, gives her a free outlet to the rest of the 

 world. The Prussian mercantile marine in 1889 

 numbered 2255 vessels of 354,213 tons. The chief 

 ports are Memel, Pillau, Konigsberg, Danzig, Col- 

 berg, Swinemiinde, Stettin, Wolgast, Stnalsund, 

 Kiel, Flensborg, Altona, Harburg, Geestemimde, 

 Leer, and Emden. The principal commercial towns 

 are Berlin, Konigsberg, Breslau, Barmen, Elber- 

 feld, Danzig, Posen, Stettin, Cologne, Magdeburg, 

 Aix-la-Chapelle, and Frankfort-on-the-Main. 

 Annual fairs are still held at Breslau, Magdeburg, 

 and Frankfort-on-the-Oder. 



The money, measures, and weights of Prussia 

 are those in use throughout the German empire. 

 In accordance with the Taw of 1872 the mark is the 

 unit of reckoning, and has gradually displaced 

 Thalers (q.v.) and silbergroschen. The Prussian 

 or Berlin Bank, founded in 1765, with numerous 

 branches in the provinces, is the most important 

 of those banks which possess the right of issuing 

 notes. 



Religion, <fcc. The dominant religion is Protes- 

 tantism, and since 1817 the Lutheran and Reformed 

 Churches have been united under the head of one 

 common evangelical church. Everything con- 

 nected with the external administration of church 

 matters is under the control of the minister of 

 public instruction and ecclesiastical attaint, but 

 every religious community manages its own inter- 

 nal concerns ; the Protestant churches acting in 

 conjunction with consistories or boards appointed 

 by the government, one of which exists in each 

 province, under the direction of the upper president, 

 or provincial governor, and a clerical superintendent- 

 general, who in Posen and Pomerania bears the 

 title of bishop ; while the Roman Catholic Church 

 is directed by the two archbishops of Posen and 

 Gnesen, and Cologne, under whom stand the four 

 bishoprics of Culm, Miinster, Paderborn, and 

 Treves. The four episcopal sees of Breslau, Erme- 

 land, Osnabruck, and Hildesheim are directly 

 under the jurisdiction of the pope, while the 

 district of Glatz, in Silesia, belongs to the arch- 

 bishopric of Prague ; Katscher, in Upper Silesia, 

 to that of Olmiitz ; and Fulda and Liniburg to that 

 of Freiburg. The results of the census of 1885, as 

 regards the numbers of the religious bodies, are as 

 follows : the Protestants of Prussia numbered 

 18,244,405 (64'4 per cent, of the pop.); Roman 

 Catholics, 9,621,763 (33'9 per cent.) ; Jews, 366,575 

 ( 1 '29 per cent. ). Roman Catholics are most numer- 

 ous in Hohenzollern (95 per cent.), Rhenish Prussia 

 (71 per cent.), Posen, Silesia, Westphalia, and 

 West Prussia. The higher Roman Catholic clergy 

 are paid by the state, the parochial clergy chiefly 

 by endowments. For the Kultur-kampf, see the 

 article GERMANY, Vol. V. p. 185. 



Education. Education is compulsory in Prussia 

 between the ages of six and fourteen, and its 

 management and direction are under the control 

 of the state. In no country are better or ampler 

 means supplied for the diffusion of knowledge 

 among all classes of the community. Prussia has 

 ten universities viz. Konigsberg, Berlin, Greifs- 

 wald, Breslau, Halle, Gottingen, Miinster, Bonn, 

 Kiel, and Marburg, which in 1889-90 numbered above 

 1240 professors and teachers and 15,770 students. 

 The educational system has already been described 



