EGYPT. 



263 



the time that Gray was occupied with the problem 

 of transmitting articulate speech by means of varia- 

 tions in the current strength produced by a movable 

 electrode in a liquid conductor, and Bell sought to 

 realize his idea of reproducing speech at a distance 

 by the magneto principle, Edison directed his atten- 

 tion to the attainment of the same object in quite 

 another way, and soon succeeded in furnishing the 

 true solution of the difficulties to be overcome, and 

 of securing the best practical results, by following 

 out a principle previously discovered by himself, 

 and in which the current variation was produced by 

 the variable resistance of solid conductors when 

 subjected to pressure. The result of this novel 

 dep'arture ia seen in the carbon telephone, justly 

 considered the best transmitting instrument yet in- 

 troduced. 



Without doubt Mr. Edison is mere than usually 

 endowed with what the world terms genius. His 

 intellectual powers are of no ordinary kind, and the 

 potentiality of his brain is very much above the 

 average ; but it should be clearly understood that 

 his great success is the result, not so much of the 

 divine gift of genius alone, as of his ceaseless activ- 

 ity and indomitable perseverance under all circum- 

 stances ; these are unquestionably the most remark- 

 able characteristics of his nature and the real elements 

 of his success. The author can state from personal 

 knowledge what is now becoming more generally 

 known regarding Mr. Edison's extraordinary pro- 

 pensities for work. No person with whom he has 

 ever met has exhibited anything like it; and very 

 few, if favored with like power of endurance, would 

 be willing to apply themselves so assiduously in any 

 given direction. During the earlier experiments with 

 the quadruplex system of telegraphy, which took 

 place under his own supervision, and which required 

 a vast amount of time and application for its perfec- 

 tion, it was a very common thing to find Mr. Edison 

 working through the entire night, his only rest being 

 such as a brief interval of sleep just before day might 

 afford, taken in the experimental rooms. Night after 

 night he has worked in this manner, and been found 

 in the morning with nothing but his coat for a pil- 

 low, and the table or desk for his couch, making thus 

 a lame apology to nature for the most reckless dis- 

 regard of her requirements. 



EGYPT, a country of northeastern Africa, 

 nominally a pashalic of the Turkish Empire, but 

 virtually an independent state since 1811. The 

 ruler of Egypt, who has the title of Khedive, 

 is Fsmail Pasha, born at Cairo, December 31, 

 1830, second son of Ibrahim, the son of Mehe- 

 met AH ; he succeeded to the Government at 

 the death of his uncle, Said Pasha, January 

 18, 1863. The eldest son of the Khedive, Mo- 

 hammed Tewfick, horn in 1852, is President of 

 the Privy Council; his eldest son, Prince Ab- 

 bas Bey, was horn July 14, 1874. 



By the annexation of Darfoor and other ter- 

 ritories, Egypt has been largely increased in 

 extent. At the beginning of 1877 the area and 

 population of the largest divisions of which 

 Egypt is now composed were as follows : 



The following table shows the imports and 

 exports from 1874 to 1877, in Egyptian pias- 

 ters (20 piasters = $1) : 



The following table shows the imports from 

 and the exports to the different foreign coun- 

 tries, in Egyptian piasters : 



COUNTRIES. 



Imports. 



Exports. 



The movement of shipping in 1877 was as 

 follows : 



The movement of population from 1872 to 

 1877 was as follows: 



Egypt in 1878 passed through a considerable 

 financial crisis. The question at stake was the 

 maintenance or diminution of the interest on 

 the public debt. All the receipts had largely 

 fallen off, and the Government therefore pro- 

 posed to reduce the interest on the debt. It 

 was thought by many that the public officials 

 had acted dishonestly, and in the beginning of 

 February the Commissioners of Public Debt 

 summoned the Minister of Finance before the 

 new tribunals in order that he might be forced 

 to produce his books and disclose the true re- 

 ceipts. They maintained that they were em- 

 powered to take this step under the financial 

 decree of May 2, 1876, which was incorporated 

 with the Goschen decree of November 18, 

 1876. A meeting of the merchants of Alexan- 

 dria held on February 2d appointed a commit- 

 tee of twenty-seven to communicate with for- 

 eign Governments and bondholders, and to pro- 



