MOLINE 



3879 



MOLLUSKS 



through ludicrous situations; Harpagon, the 

 chief figure of his masterpiece, The Miser 

 (L'Avare), is one of the most striking creations 

 in the world's dramatic literature. 



Moliere was both a dramatist and an actor, 

 and began his career as manager of a theater 

 which he helped to build. After the failure of 

 this venture he joined a band of strolling play- 

 ers who gave performances in the rural towns. 

 His first comedy, The Blunderer, was produced 

 seven years later, in 1653. He continued his 

 work as a writer and actor until the last year 

 of his life, and it can truthfully be said that he 

 died in the harness, for his death was brought 

 about through his impersonation of a character 

 in his last play, The Imaginary Invalid. In 

 this he had to indulge in a violent fit of cough- 

 ing, which caused the bursting of a blood vessel. 

 Among his best comedies are The School for 

 Women, Tartuffe, George Dandin, The M-isan- 

 thrope and Doctor in Spite oj Himself. 



Consult Chatfleld-Taylon's Moliere; Matthews' 

 Moliere, His Life and His Works. 



MOLINE, moleen' , ILL., a manufacturing 

 city in Rock Island County, in the northwest- 

 ern part .of the state. It is situated on the Mis- 

 sissippi River, at the point where it receives 

 the waters of the Rock River, and on the Hen- 

 nepin Canal. Exceptional transportation facili- 

 ties are offered by water and rail. The Chicago, 

 Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago Burlington 

 & Quincy and the Chicago, Milwaukee & Saint 

 Paul railways serve the city. Chicago is 179 

 miles east. Rock Island, the county seat, joins 

 Moline on the west, and Davenport, Iowa, is 

 across the river from Rock Island. These three 

 cities, locally called the "tri-city," are closely 

 connected by electric railways, ferries and 

 bridges; they are regarded as one big com- 

 munity with a total population of nearly 100,- 

 000 (1916), that of Moline being 27,451 (esti- 

 mated) ; of these 5,000 are Swedes and 3,000 are 

 Belgians. Its population in 1910 was 24,199. 

 The area of the city is five and one-half square 

 miles. 



In the channel between Moline and the island 

 of Rock Island, in the Mississippi River, dams 

 have been built to develop water power for the 

 use of manufacturers. Extensive coal fields in 

 the vicinity also contribute to the industrial 

 development of the city. Moline is famous for 

 the manufacture of agricultural implements, par- 

 ticularly steel plows and corn planters. About 

 3,500 people are employed by two plow com- 

 panies, the annual output being valued at $32,- 

 000,000. Beside these the city has three auto- 



mobile factories', at least one of them (Velie) 

 with a large output, and it also manufactures 

 elevators, scales, boilers, pumps, furniture, or- 

 gans and foundry products. East of the city 

 limits are located the large yards and 'machine 

 shops of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Rail- 

 way. Moline is an important distributing point 

 for lumber, grain and machinery. The most 

 notable buildings are a $150,000 Federal build- 

 ing, erected in 1910; a city hall, constructed in 

 1913 at a cost of $170,000, and a $135,000 Y. M. 

 C. A. building. In addition to its public school 

 system, with a library and two high schools, it 

 has a business college and a Carnegie Library. 

 Outdoor recreation is provided by Sylvan, 

 Deere-Stephens, Riverside and Prospect parks. 

 Interesting features of the vicinity are Black 

 Hawk Watch Tower, Campbell's Island and the 

 United States arsenal on Rock Island. 



The first settlement was made iii 1829. In 

 1843 the town was platted by a mill company, 

 who called it Moline, from the French word 

 moulin, meaning mill. It was incorporated as 

 a town in 1848, as a city in 1872, and it adopted 

 the commission form of government in 1911. It 

 reverted, however, to the representative form in 

 1919. O.F.H. 



MOLLUSKS, mol'usks, a numerous group in 

 the animal kingdom known to naturalists as 

 mollusca, a Latin word meaning soft-bodied 



MOLLUSKS 



(a) Scallop shell; (&) Tasmanian cuttlefish; 

 (c) fresh-water snail shell; (d) North American 

 snail. 



animals. As the name indicates, all mollusks 

 have soft, boneless bodies. Oysters and clams 

 may be regarded as the most notable of this 

 group. It includes also such curious mailed 

 creatures as slugs and snails, as well as several 

 interesting animals without shells, like the oc- 

 topus, the nautilus, the cuttlefish and the squid. 



