HUTCHINSON 



2882 



HYACINTH 



HUTCHINSON, KAN., the county seat of 

 Reno County, noted for its salt industry. It 

 is situated southeast of the geographical cen- 

 ter of the state and on the Arkansas River. 

 Wichita is forty-five miles directly southeast 

 and Kansas City, Mo., is 219 miles east by 

 rail. Three trunk lines serve the city the 

 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, 

 Rock Island & Pacific and the Missouri Pa- 

 cific. The city was founded in 1871, was in- 

 corporated in 1873 and since 1909 has been 

 governed on the commission plan. The popu- 

 lation in 1910 was 16,364; a Federal estimate in 

 1916 showed an increase to 20,753. An area of 

 nine and one-half square miles defines the city's 

 limits. 



Hutchinson is the wholesale and jobbing cen- 

 ter for a large district, but since 1887, when de- . 

 posits of rock salt were discovered, its interests 

 have been largely centered in this industry. 

 The grain and meat-packing industries are im- 

 portant, and the manufacture of flour, soda ash 

 and strawboard is considerable. The place is 

 the home of the Kansas State Fair, and is a 

 noted convention city in its territory. Con- 

 vention Hall, the State Industrial Reformatoiy, 

 the public library and the courthouse are the 

 principal buildings. Besides the fair grounds, 

 which cover one square mile, the city has Glen- 

 dale and Northside parks. 



HUXLEY, hux'li, THOMAS HENRY (1825- 

 1895), a famous English naturalist and a leader 

 among men of science. After graduating from 

 the University of London in 1845 he entered 

 the medical service of the navy. He spent 

 four years on H. M. S. Rattlesnake on a sur- 

 veying expedition in Australasia, where he had 

 opportunity to study the anatomy and physiol- 

 ogy of the transparent oceanic forms jellyfish, 

 pelagic mollusks and worms. He sent a great 

 many valuable scientific papers to the Royal 

 Societies while on the cruise, and when the 

 Rattlesnake returned in 1850 Huxley found 

 that his papers had made him famous. In 

 1853 he retired from the navy. 



In 1854 he accepted the post of lecturer on 

 natural history at the Royal School of Mines. 

 Soon after his return from the voyage of the 

 Rattlesnake he had made the acquaintance of 

 Charles Darwin, and also of the botanist 

 Hooker. He met Tyndall in a railway car- 

 riage on his way to a meeting of the British 

 Association at Ipswich in 1851, and they be- 

 came warm friends. Huxley, Tyndall and 

 Hooker eventually became a triumvirate which 

 governed and determined the official side of 



scientific affairs in London, influencing and 

 directing public opinion. 



At the age of twenty-five Huxley had estab- 

 lished a reputation as a comparative anato- 

 mist, palaeontologist, microscopist and an 

 exponent of original views of zoology. When 

 Darwin's Origin oj Species was published, Hux- 

 ley exhibited a new activity in defending and 

 expounding the views of his friend. In 1883 

 he was elected president of the Royal Society. 

 Two years later he retired from active life 

 on account of ill health, but between that 

 year and his death in 1895 he published a great 

 many brilliant essays. Among his works are: 

 On the Theory oj the Vertebrate Skull, The 

 Oceanic Hydrozoa, Man's Place in Nature, 

 On Our Knowledge oj the Causes of the Phe- 

 nomena of Organic Nature, Elementary Physi- 

 ology, Elements of Comparative Anatomy, 

 Introduction to the Classification of Animals, 

 Critiques and Addresses, American Addresses, 

 Physiography and Anatomy of Invertebrate 

 Animals. 



Consult Clodd's Thomas Jtienry Huxley; Os- 

 born's Huxley and Education. 



HYACINTH, hi'asinth, a favorite spring 

 flower of the lily family, whose blue, white or 

 purple blossoms make a beautiful display in 

 the garden during the months of March and 

 April. The hyacinth grows from bulbs and 

 belongs to a group comprising about thirty 

 species, natives of Africa, Asia Minor, Syria 

 and Persia. Introduced into Europe about the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century, the flower 

 speedily became popular with the English and 

 the Dutch, and its cultivation assumed mam- 

 moth proportions in Holland. The soil and 

 climate of that country are especially favorable 

 to the production of bulbous-rooted flowers, 

 and hundreds of acres are given over to the 

 growth of hyacinths near Haarlem, bringing 

 in a yearly revenue of many thousands of dol- 

 lars. The flowers are drooping and bell-shaped, 

 and both single- and double-flowered varieties 

 are cultivated. In Shelley's poem, The Sensi- 

 tive Plant, are these lines: 



And the hyacinth purple and white and blue, 

 Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew 

 Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, 

 It was felt like an odor within the sense. 



The flowers are grown in open beds, in hot- 

 houses and in the home. Rich, well-drained 

 soil is required by them when cultivated in 

 the open. The bulbs are planted from Sep- 

 tember to November, about five inches deep, 

 and in beds spaded to a depth of twenty inches. 



