MISCELLANY 



781 



it was never so common as in the latter country. 

 Cromwell was an enemy of the duel, and during 

 the protectorate there was a cessation of the 

 practice. It came again into vogue, however, 

 after the Restoration, thanks chiefly to the 

 French ideas that then inundated the court. 

 As society became more polished duels became 

 more frequent, and they were never more num- 

 erous than in the reign of George III. Among 

 the principals in the fatal duels of this period 

 were Charles James Fox, Sheridan, Pitt, Can- 

 ning, Castlereagh, the Duke of York, the Duke 

 of Richmond, and Lord Camelford. The last- 

 mentioned was the most notorious duellist of his 

 time, and was himself killed in a duel in 1804. 

 A duel was fought between the Duke of Welling- 

 ton and Lord Winchelsea in 1829, but the prac- 

 tice was dying out. It lasted longest in the 

 army. By English law fatal duelling is con- 

 sidered murder, no matter how fair the combat 

 may have been, and the seconds are liable to 

 the same penalty as the principals. In 1813, the 

 principal and seconds in a fatal duel were sen- 

 tenced to death, though afterwards pardoned. 

 An officer in the army having anything to do 

 with a duel renders himself liable to be cashiered. 

 In France duelling still prevails to a certain 

 extent ; but the combats are usually very blood- 

 less and ridiculous affairs. In the German army 

 it is common, and is recognized by law. The 

 duels of German students, so often spoken of, 

 peldom cause serious bloodshed. In the United 

 States duels are now uncommon. In some of 

 the States the killing of a man in a duel is pun- 

 ishable by death" or by forfeiture of political 

 rights, and in a large number the sending of a 

 challenge is a felony. In the army and navy it 

 is forbidden. During the Revolution there were 

 a number of duels: Charles Lee was wounded 

 by John Laurens; Gwinnett, a signer of the 

 Declaration, was killed by Gen. Mclntosh; 

 Alexander Hamilton was slain by Aaron Burr. 

 Decatur was killed and Barren wounded fight- 

 ing a duel. Andrew Jackson killed Dickinson, 

 and fought several other duels. Col. Ben ton 

 killed Lucas, and had other encounters. Henry 

 Clay and John Randolph fought in 1826. D>e 

 \\ift Clinton was a duellist. 



Dwarf. A term applied to any animal or 

 plant greatly below the usual size of its kind, 

 particularly to a human being of small dimen- 

 sions. Accounts of dwarf tribes have been com- 

 mon from early times, such tribes being located 

 especially in Africa; and it would appear from 

 the accounts of Du Chaillu, Schwcinfurth, and 

 other travelers that there are several dwarfish 

 tribes throughout this continent. The Obongp, 

 a race of dwarfs, are described as living in 

 woods near the Okanda River, in wretched 

 huts made of branches. Other races are tin Ma 

 bongo, and the Akka dwarfs of Central 

 and a race is said to exist in the Congo State, 

 not as a distinct community, however, but 

 r tril>es. Individual dwarfs oc- 

 cur in all races, and were formerly a fashionable 

 a pi* -linage to the courts of princes and the fam- 

 ilies of nobles. Jeffery Hudson, the favorite 

 duarf of diaries I., at t)i- ace of thirty i- 

 have been only eighteen in.-h.-s \\\^\\. though he 

 afterwards grew to three feet ana nine inches. 



Bb4, the celebrated dwarf of Stanislas of Po- 

 land, was thirty-three inches; Wybrand Lolkes, 

 a Dutch dwarf, when sixty years of age was only 

 twenty-seven inches; Charles H. Stratton, " Gen- 

 eral Tom Thumb," was thirty-one inches high 

 at the age of twenty-five; Francis Flynn, "Gen- 

 eral Mite," was only twenty-one inches at six- 

 teen. 



Earthquakes. A shaking of certain parts 

 of the earth's surface, produced by causes not 

 perceivable by our senses. This motion occurs 

 in very different ways, having sometimes a per- 

 pendicular, sometimes a horizontal undulating, 

 and sometimes a whirling motion. It also va- 

 ries much in degrees of violence, from a shock 

 which is hardly perceptible to one which bursts 

 open chasms and changes the appearance of the 

 ground itself. During these shocks sometimes 

 smoke and flames, but more frequently stones 

 and torrents of water are discharged. There is 

 little doubt that earthquakes and volcanic erup- 

 tions are kindred phenomena, the latter differing 

 from the former principally in proceeding from 

 a permanent crater. All observations go to 

 prove that both are due to disruptions produced 

 by internal heat at a great depth beneath the 

 surface of the earth. Of the particular way in 

 which this force works, however, there are vari- 

 ous theories. It has been thought by some 

 that the center of earthquakes and volcanic dis- 

 turbances is always near the sea or other large 

 supplies of water, and that the disturbances are 

 directly caused by the filtration of the water 

 down to igneous matter, and the consequent 

 generation of vast quantities of steam which 

 frees itself by explosion. Others have sought 

 to explain earthquakes as part of the phenomena 

 of a planet cooling at the surface. The parts 

 of the world most frequented by earthquakes 

 are exhibited in the following table: 



AREA 



Scandinavia 



British Isles 



France 



Spain and Portugal, .... 



Switzerland 



Italy 



Holland and North Germany. 

 Si.-ily 



Russia 



Asia Minor 



I.'.l.a 



Japan 



Africa 



Atlantic Inland*.. 



1 State*. Pacific Coast. 



Atlantic Coast 



. 



Central America. 

 '. 

 South America. . . 



Java 



Australia and Tanmanin. 

 \,-w /.,,.!:, !. 



EARTH- 



..'1 \KI - 



540 

 1,189 

 2.7U 



10,306 

 ISf 



J.M 



The most remarkable earthquakes of history 

 are the following: 



One which mndo Kubow an bland. 42.'. 



-. swallowed HP. 



(),- :.t Horn.-, wlim. in ..-. I ,:,,-,. |, , , . M. 



Curtiua. armed and mounted on a stately horse, 

 leaped into the dreadful chasm it occasioned 

 (LiV 358 



