KANSAS RIVER 



3214 



KARLSRUHE 



provision Douglas's "sovereignty" idea (see 

 SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY), that "all questions per- 

 taining to slavery in the territories and the 

 new states to be formed therefrom, are to be 

 left to the decision of the people residing 

 therein, by their appropriate representatives." 

 As this provision was directly contrary to the 

 Missouri Compromise (which see), which pro- 

 hibited slavery north of the latitude of 36 30', 

 Douglas introduced a second bill specifically 

 declaring that measure "void and inoperative." 

 The new bill became a law after a lengthy, 

 bitter struggle. It practically admitted slavery 

 to an area of 500,000 square miles, embracing 

 Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Da- 

 kota, Montana, Wyoming and part of Colo- 

 rado, revived the bitter contention which had 

 been checked by the Compromise of 1850, and 

 was an important factor in hastening the War 

 of Secession. 



KANSAS RIVER, a river of Kansas which 

 flows through one of the finest agricultural 

 districts of the state. It is formed by the 

 union of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers, 

 in Geary County, from which it flows in an 

 easterly direction, uniting with the Missouri 

 River at Kansas City. Though steamers have 

 traversed its entire co.urse at high water, still 

 its navigation possibilities are slight. The Solo- 

 mon, Blue and Saline rivers are its chief tribu- 

 taries, and the cities of Lawrence, Junction 

 City and Topeka, the state capital, are on its 

 banks. Including the Smoky Hill fork, which 

 rises in the Rocky Mountains, it is about 650 

 miles in length. 



KANT, kahnt, IMMANUEL (1724-1804), a 

 German philosopher, celebrated as an original 

 thinker? and accounted by many the only mod- 

 ern philosopher who ranks favorably with Plato 

 and Aristotle. He never traveled beyond a 

 distance of sixty miles from his native town, 

 Konigsberg, Prussia. He never engaged in any 

 work except as scholar, tutor, university offi- 

 cial and writer. His Critique of Pure Reason, 

 which was published in 1781, is probably the 

 most important philosophical work of the last 

 two centuries. In 1785 and 1788 he published 

 works bearing on his ethical doctrine, and in 

 1790 a philosophical essay upon esthetics and 

 upon the presence of design in nature. His 

 Essay Upon the Philosophy of Religion ap- 

 peared in 1793. The aged philosopher planned 

 a large philosophical work which was to be 

 a fitting crown to his systematic labors, but 

 he was unable to finish this treatise on account 

 of his mental ineffectiveness. 



KAOLIN, ka' o lin. On a high ridge in China 

 which the natives call Kaolimr-is found a pure 

 white clay, from which the Chinese make their 

 celebrated porcelain and pottery ware. From 

 the Chinese name of the hill the name -kaolin 

 has been given this clay. Kaolin is decom- 

 posed feldspar and contains silica, alumina and 

 traces of soda-potash and lime. It is usually 

 white when burned. It can be ground to a 

 fine powder, and has been extensively adopted 

 for making the highest grades of pottery and 

 for filling the pores and making a smooth sur- 

 face on paper. It is now mined in various parts 

 of the world. The largest mines in Europe are 

 at Cornwall, England, and it is also obtained 

 in large quantities in France and Germany. 

 In the United States kaolin is found in Con- 

 necticut, Delaware, Georgia, Nebraska, North 

 Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont. 



When taken from the mine, kaolin contains 

 quartz rock and other impurities which are 

 separated from it by mixing with water in large 

 settling tanks. When the impurities fall to the 

 bottom, the kaolin is drawn into other tanks 

 and allowed to settle. It is then dried and cut 

 into cakes which are sent to pottery works. 

 See POTTERY. 



KARAKORUM, kah rah ko' rum, MOUN- 

 TAINS , a range in Central Asia, lying between 

 Kashmir and Eastern Turkestan, on a lofty 

 table-land that is often called "the roof of the 

 world." The Karakorum Mountains, together 

 with the Pamir, Elburz, Suleiman and Tian 

 Shan ranges, form the great Pamir plateau, 

 from which also rise "the mountains of snow," 

 or the Himalayas, which have the-highest peaks 

 in the world. The giant peak of the Kara- 

 korums, Mount Godwin-Austen, 28,278 feet in 

 height, is, after Mount Everest, the highest 

 known point on the globe. Minerals abound in 

 this range, copper and lead having been mined 

 from ancient times; gold, zinc, sulphur and salt 

 are also obtained. 



KARLSRUHE, or CARLSRUHE, kahrls'roo > . 

 meaning Charles's Rest, an interesting city uf 

 Germany, surrounded- by parks and gardens and 

 noted for its well-paved streets, its fine public 

 squares, buildings, fountains and monuments. 

 It is situated five miles east of the Rhine River 

 and forty miles northwest of Stuttgart, and 

 is the capital of the former duchy of Baden. 1 

 Its name was taken from Charles William,' 

 margrave of Baden, who, because of disputes 

 with the citizens of Durlach in 1715, erected oa 

 the site a hunting seat, around which the city 

 has since been built. Among the important 



