ITALY 



ITCH 



also suffered severely for several years from 

 a cholera epidemic. 



In 1911 the peace policy of Italy was set 

 aside, and war was declared on Turkey, the 

 reason given being the desire to protect Ital- 

 ians in Tripoli. As a result of the brief con- 

 flict Italy added Tripoli to its group of colonies, 

 but allowed Turkey to keep a representative 

 there as a concession to the Mohammedans. 

 Despite the Triple Alliance, which existed from 

 1882 and was several times renewed, Italy 

 felt none too kindly toward Austria, while 

 on the other hand its relations with France 

 have grown more and more friendly. Doubt- 

 less this fact had much to do with the atti- 

 tude of Italy when the great European war 

 broke out in 1914. For a year it kept out of 

 the struggle, though showing a decided lean- 

 ing toward the allies, but on May 23, 1915, it 

 declared war on Austria-Hungary, identifying 

 itself with the forces arrayed against the Central 

 Powers. In the month of August, 1916, it still 

 further involved itself in the struggle by a 

 declaration of war on Germany. The armies of 

 Italy and Austria became engaged in a vigorous 

 campaign in the Alps ; through this Italy hoped 

 to regain its lost northern provinces. For a 

 year Italy pushed its foe northward, but late in 

 1917 the Austro-Germans gained hundreds of 

 square miles before the Italians and their allies 

 could stop them. See WAR OF THE NATIONS, 

 for full details of the struggle. 



When the war ended, with Germany defeated, 

 Italy claimed territory (Fiume and Dalmatia) 

 which the peace conference did not wish to give 

 her, and a serious break was with difficulty 

 averted. 



Other Items of Interest. So strongly marked 

 are the dialect peculiarities of Italy that the 

 people of neighboring towns frequently cannot 

 understand each other. Travelers tell of walk- 

 ing in two minutes from one town to another 

 and finding in the second a dialect unintelli- 

 gible to the inhabitants of the first. 



Not many other countries of Europe have 

 as few forms of animal life as has Italy. Even 

 birds are scarcely to be seen, except at the 

 migration season, for practically every living 

 thing that is edible is killed for food. 



Italian peasants who have returned to their 

 country after living for a time in Canada and 

 the United States differ from those who have 

 never left their native land by reason of their 

 greater enterprise and resourcefulness. Their 

 standards of living are higher, and they show 

 little desire to return to the care-free life. 



During the War of the Nations the govern- 

 ment of Italy decreed compulsory cultivation 

 of the soil. By this ruling all landowners were 

 compelled to use all their land for crops or for 

 pasture, and to report results to the officials of 

 their districts. 



Only China and Japan among the countries 

 of the world have larger silk production. 



Consult Kirkland's Short History of Italy: Vil- 

 lari's Italian Life in Town and Country; Finne- 

 more's Italy. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes contain much information on the 

 subject of Italy : 



CITIES 



Ancona 



Bari 



Bologna 



Cagliari 



Catania 



Florence 



Genoa 



Herculaneum 



Leghorn 



Lucca 



Messina 



Milan 



Modena 



Naples 



E 



Etruria 

 Latium 

 Lombardy 

 Monaco 

 Papal States 



Padua 



Palermo 



Parma 



Pavia 



Pisa 



Pompeii 



Rome 



Syracuse 



Taranto 



Turin 



Venice 



Verona 



Vicenza 



Piedmont 



Sardinia, Kingdom of 



Sicilies, Kingdom of 



the Two 

 Tuscany 



ISLANDS 



See list, under article ISLAND. 



Grape 



Marble 



Olive 



LEADING PRODUCTS 



Silk 



Sulphur 



Wine 



Alban Mountains 

 Alps 



Apennines 

 Etna 



Adige 



Arno 



Como (lake) 



MOUNTAINS 



Matterhorn 

 Mont Blanc 

 Vesuvius 



WATERS 



Po 



Rubicon 



Tiber 



ITCH. The word itch is so descriptive as 

 to need no definition. Specialists hold that 

 itching comes from pressure on the end nerves 

 of the skin, and results when the end nerves 

 are caught between thick layers of skin on the 

 outside and dilated skin capillaries on the 

 other. It may be due to a mere nervous influ- 

 ence and have no significance whatsoever, and 

 it may come from general systemic disease, 

 as liver or kidney trouble. The use of certain 

 narcotic drugs, as morphine, causes intense and 





