212 DEVILLE, E. H. 8AINTE-CLAIRE. 



DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 



An examination of recruits summoned for 

 military service showed that 86 per cent were 

 able to read and write with ease, and only 1 

 per cent were totally illiterate. 



A squadron of iron-clods, consisting of three 

 monitors and two steam schooners, has been 

 fitted out and placed in command of Vice-Ad- 

 miral Wrisberg. 



The King has revoked the decree of banish- 

 ment uttered against the Schleswig-IIolstein- 

 Augustonburg family after the Schleswig-Hol- 

 stein War of 1852. The late Duke Frederick, 

 in violation of a compact by which the family 

 received compensation for their demesnes in 

 Denmark, asserted his claims to the throne of 

 the duchies in 1868 and headed a revolt. His 

 quarrel was embraced by Prussia and Austria, 

 with the result that the duchies were annexed 

 to Prussia and the ducal family shut out from 

 the throne as before. The present head of the 

 family is Prince Ernst Gunther, born in 1863. 



The Minister of War, General Kanfmann, 

 was appointed Commandant-General of Zea- 

 land in place of General Nielsen, retired. The 

 office was placed temporarily in charge of the 

 Naval Minister, Ravn, who was later appointed 

 Minister of War. 



On the resignation of Governor Garde, April 

 1st, C. H. Arendrup was appointed Governor 

 of the Danish West Indies. As the session ad- 

 vanced there appeared to be no prospect of an 

 agreement between the law-giving branches on 

 finance questions. 



In answer to a query of the authorities of 

 Holland regarding the importation of infernal 

 machines from America, the Foreign Office 

 expressed its willingness to examine invoices 

 which are not addressed to firms of good stand- 

 ing. 



The Icelandic Althing opened July 1st. Ice- 

 land rejoices in the comparatively large meas- 

 ure of liberty and independence which has 

 been accorded it recently. The anxious period 

 of the constitutional conflict has been suc- 

 ceeded by one of practical and peaceful prog- 

 ress. A legislative hall has been erected for 

 the Althing in Reykiavik. In the upper stories 

 are placed the National Library and a collec- 

 tion of Icelandic antiquities. The portrait of 

 Jon Sigurdson, the champion of Iceland's inde- 

 pendence, is a conspicuous ornament in the hall 

 of sessions, and even the household furniture 

 of the hero is preserved as a national treasure. 



DEVILLE, ETIENNE HENRI SAINTE-CLAIRE, 

 French chemist, was born in the Island of St. 

 Thomas, in the West Indies, March 18, 1818, 

 and died at Boulogne-sur-Seine, July 1st He 

 went to Paris in his boyhood with his brother, 

 the late meteorologist, Charles Deville. Du- 

 mas's lectures first attracted him to the study 

 of chemistry. His reputation was rapidly es- 

 tablished. In 1844 he became professor at 

 Besancon, and in 1851 was called to the Nor- 

 mal School in Paris, where he held the chair 

 of Chemistry until his death, delivering lectures 

 besides at the Sorbonne. His early studies 



were in organic chemistry, but he soon direct- 

 ed his sole attention to mineral chemistry and 

 inorganic analysis, in which field his reputa- 

 tion for thirty years was as high as that of 

 any contemporary chemist. From his labo- 

 ratory have emanated many great discoveries, 

 some of them of high practical utility. Fruits 

 of his-earlier investigations were the synthesis 

 of nitric anhydride, the discovery of toluole, 

 and an improvement in the method of watt r- 

 analysis in use at that time. His studies of the 

 properties of the metal aluminum and his in- 

 vention of the method of obtaining that sub- 

 stance in quantities attracted the attention of 

 the world. He studied the metallurgy of plat- 

 inum, and found out how it could be obtained 

 in a pure state. He elucidated the properties 

 of boron and silicon. Through his ingenuity 

 the metal sodium was rendered obtainable on 

 a large scale, so that its price sank from two 

 thousand to fifteen francs a kilogramme, an 

 invention which has led to important results 

 both theoretical and industrial. Deville at- 

 tained a proficiency in obtaining excessively 

 high temperatures which was long unexcelled. 

 The artificial production of minerals in his 

 laboratory was a striking demonstration of 

 his success in this direction. The opportunity 

 which it afforded him of observing reactions 

 and thermal phenomena at high temperatures 

 led to the most important of Deville's discov- 

 eries that of the laws of dissociation. De- 

 composition had previously been supposed to 

 be a simple phenomenon which takes place at 

 a certain fixed temperature for each compound, 

 beginning and completing itself at that tempera- 

 ture. Deville showed that it is effected with- 

 in a certain range of temperature, and in some 

 cases is arrested by an equilibrium being es- 

 tablished between the decomposing body and 

 the products of decomposition. Deville recog- 

 nized no theory which was not founded on the 

 clearest kind of induction. He questioned the 

 entire theoretical structure of modern chem- 

 istry, treating even the atomic theory as a 

 groundless and useless speculation. Deville 

 received a poor stipend from his professorship. 

 The task of instructing beginners was irksome 

 to him ; but he was a very amiable teacher, 

 and generously aided and encouraged younger 

 investigators. He died in the possession of a 

 comfortable fortune, being a director of the 

 Municipal Gas Company. He was one of the 

 chief promoters of the International Metre 

 Commission in 1870. Although a man of en- 

 thusiastic temperament, his scientific caution 

 and strict accuracy contributed not a little to 

 the enviable reputation he bore in scientific 

 circles. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. (See 

 NATURALIZATION PAPERS, PANAMA CANAL and 

 PERU, CHILI, AND UNITED STATES.) 



DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. The annual 

 meeting of the General Christian Missionary 

 Contention was held at Indianapolis, Indiana, 

 October 20th. The Board of Managers re- 





