GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



391 



erated, not only in dead organic matter, but by 

 the combination of purely mineral elements. 

 He obtained bacteria in a great number of ster- 

 ilized infusions hermetically sealed while boil- 

 ing in Spallanzani's flasks. He also found that 

 certain saline solutions, such as ammonic tar- 

 trate with some sodic phosphate, will develop 

 bacteria when exposed to the air or confined in 

 a vacuum. Tyndall also affirms that a mineral 

 solution containing the chemical constituents of 

 the substance of bacteria would become filled 

 with organisms as rapidly as an organic infusion 

 when infected with a drop of putrid liquid ; 

 but he did not find that it could he infected by 

 the atmospheric germs. If the results obtained 

 by Bastian and others could be accepted un- 

 reservedly, then the doctrine of the origin of 

 life de now by molecular combinations must be 

 considered established. But while one instance 

 of no life developing itself on sterilizing and 

 isolating an organic substance from the atmos- 

 phere, though all the other conditions of life are 

 furnished a result which has been obtained 

 many thousand times by Pasteur, Tyndall, 

 and many others is a positive and complete 

 evidence of the germ theory, any number of 

 instances of a contrary result must be received 

 with doubt and scrutiny, since there always 

 remains the possibility that the insidious germs 

 have not been all slain or excluded. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, a king- 

 dom of western Europe. The Queen, Victoria, 

 was born May 24, 1819. She is a daughter of 

 , Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son 

 of George III. ; succeeded her uncle, William 

 IV., as Queen of Great Britain in 1837; and 

 married in 1840 Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg- 

 Gotha. 



Children of the Queen 1. Princess Victo- 

 ria, born November 21, 1840; married to the 

 Crown Prince of Germany. 2. Prince Albert 

 Edward, heir apparent, born November 9, 1841 ; 

 married in 1863 to Princess Alexandra, daugh- 

 ter of King Christian IX. of Denmark. Issue, 

 two sons and three daughters ; eldest son, Al- 

 bert Victor, born January 8, 1864. 3. Princess 

 Alice, born April 25, 1843 ; married in 1862 to 

 Louis IV., Grand Duke of Hesse ; died Decem- 

 ber 14, 1878. (See ALICE MAUD MARY.) 4. 

 Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, born Au- 

 gust 6, 1844; married in 1874 to the Grand 

 Duchess Maria of Russia. He is heir apparent 

 to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 5. Prin- 

 cess Helena, born May 25, 1846; married in 

 1866 to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Hol- 

 stein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. 6. Princess 

 Louise, born March 18, 1848 ; married in 1871 

 to the Marquis of Lome. 7. Prince Arthur, 

 born May 1, 1850. 8. Prince Leopold, born 

 April 7, 1853. 9. Princess Beatrice, born April 

 14, 1857. 



The Cabinet was composed as follows in 1878: 

 First Lord of the Treasury, Right Hon. Benja- 

 min Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Lord High 

 Chancellor, Lord Cairns. Lord President of 

 the Council, Duke of Richmond and Gordon. 



Lord Privy Seal, the first Lord of the Treasury, 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir S. H. North- 

 cote, Bart., M. P. Secretaries of State: 1. 

 Home Department, Right Hon. R. A. Cross; 

 2. Foreign Affairs, Marquis of Salisbury ; 3. 

 Colonies, Sir Michael E. Hicks-Beach ; 4. War, 

 Colonel Frederick Stanley, M. P.; 5. India, 

 Viscount Cranbrook. First Lord of the Admi- 

 ralty, Right Hon. W. H. Smith, M. P. Post- 

 master-General, Right Hon. Lord John J. R. 

 Manners, M. P. President of the Ministry of 

 Commerce, Lord Sandon. 



Parliament is composed of two Houses, the 

 House of Lords and the House of Commons. 

 The number of peers in 1878 was 488. Of 

 these, 5 were peers of the royal blood, 2 arch- 

 bishops, 21 dukes, 18 marquesses, 110 earls, 24 

 bishops, 24 viscounts, 240 barons, 16 Scotch 

 and 28 Irish earls. The Speaker of the House 

 of Lords was Lord Cairns, the Lord High Chan- 

 cellor, and the chairman of committees Lord 

 Redesdale. The Speaker of the House of Com- 

 mons was Henry Bouverie William Brand, and 

 the chairman of committees Henry Cecil Raikes. 

 The members of the House of Commons are 

 elected by the people. 



The area and population of the British Em- 

 pire in 1878 were as follows : 



The movement of population for 1871 to 1877 

 was as follows: 



The following table gives a complete list of 

 the colonies and possessions : 



