64 



BELGIUM. 



she opened a female seminary, which, on ac- 

 count of ill health, she was obliged to discon- 

 tinue after two years. She now began to de- 

 vote herself to the development of an extended 

 plan for the physical, social, intellectual, and 

 moral education of women. For nearly forty 

 years she labored perseveringly in this work, 

 organizing societies for training teachers and 

 sending them to the new States and Territo- 

 ries, and constantly using her pen in further- 

 ance of her cherished project. " Hundreds of 

 the best teachers the West received," said her 

 brother, ' went out under the patronage of this 

 system." As a part of her work in this direc- 

 tion, she wrote "Domestic Service," "Duty 

 of American Women to their Country," "Do- 

 mestic Receipt Book," " The True Remedy for 

 the Wrongs of Woman," "Domestic Economy," 

 " Letters to the People on Health and Happi- 

 ness," "Physiology and Calisthenics," "Reli- 

 gious Training of Children," "The American 

 Woman's Home," " Common Sense applied to 

 Religion," and " Appeal to the People, as the 

 Authorized Interpreters of the Bible." She 

 also prepared the memoirs of her brother 

 George Beecher, and wrote "Truth Stranger 

 than Fiction." She left several unpublished 

 manuscripts and an autobiography nearly com- 

 pleted. 



BELGIUM, a kingdom of Europe. Leopold 

 II., King of the Belgians, born April 9, 1835, 

 is the son of King Leopold I., former Duke of 

 Saxe-Coburg, and ascended the throne at his 

 death, December 10, 1865. He was married 

 August 22, 1853, to Marie Henriette, daughter 

 of the late Archduke Joseph of Austria (born 

 August 23, 1836), who has borne him three 

 daughters. The heir apparent to the throne 

 is the brother of the King, Philip, Count of 

 Flanders, born March 24, 1837, lieutenant-gen- 

 eral in the service of Belgium, who was married 

 April 26, 1867, to Princess Marie of Hohenzol- 

 lern-Sigmaringen (born November 17, 1845), 

 and has a son, Baldwin, born July 3, 1869. 



The area of the kingdom is 11,373 square 

 miles, the population according to the census 

 of December 31, 1876, 5,336,185. The follow- 

 ing table exhibits the population of each prov- 

 ince, as well as the number of arrondissements 

 and communes into which each province is 

 divided : 



Brussels 161,816 



Antwerp 15JI.650 



Ghent. 127,658 



Liege 115,85] 



Bruges 45,097 



Malines 89,029 



Verviers 87,828 



Louvain 88,917 



Tournay 82,145 



Molenbeek St. Jean*. 37,292 



Ixelles* 81,992 



fc-haerbeek* 84,177 



Namur '25,066 



Courtrai 26.889 



Saint Nicolas 25,166 



Seraing 24,815 



MODS 24,810 



Alost 20,982 



Jumet 20,102 



The movement of population was as follows 

 in 1876: 



From the census tables we derive the follow- 

 ing facts : The number of boys born for 100 

 girls was 104-6 ; the number of inhabitants for 

 one birth, 30'6 ; the number of births per 100 

 deaths, 151'5; and the number of inhabitants 

 for one death, 46*3. In the same year the num- 

 ber of still-born amounted to 7,930, 4,497 males 

 and 3,433 females, and the number of divorces 

 to 135. Of the births, 164,34'8 were legitimate 

 and 12,567 illegitimate ; and of the still-born, 

 7,214 were legitimate and 716 illegitimate; 

 making, in all, 171,562 legitimate and 13,283 

 illegitimate births. 



Instruction is well cared for in all grades. 

 In 1875 there were 5,856 primary schools, with 

 669,192 pupils. Schools for adults have been 

 established in most communes; their number 

 in 1875 was 2,615, with 204,673 pupils. The 

 number of normal schools for primary teachers 

 was, in 1876, 31, with 2,018 students, of which 

 23 schools, with 1,282 students, were for fe- 

 males. The number of secondary schools in 

 1876-'77 was 198, with 17,881 pupils. Supe- 

 rior instruction is imparted in the two state 

 Universities of Ghent and Liege, and the two 

 free Universities of Brussels and Louvain. The 

 number of students in each of these in 1876- 

 '77 was as follows : 



UNIVERSITIES. Student*. 



Ghent 269 



Liege 630 



Brussels 615 



Louvain 1,052 



Total 2,566 



The number of students in the special schools 

 connected with the universities was as follows : 



UNIVERSITIES. Student* 



Ghent 275 



Liege 831 



Brussels 106 



Louvain . . 205 



The population of the principal towns in 

 1876 was as follows : 



Total. 



917 



* Suburbs of Brussels. 



