caoutchene, and disoprene; that portion of the oil of camphor which boils between 180° and 182°; the product obtained by heating terpenes to 250° to 270°; and the hydrocarbons obtained by the decomposition of the terpene dichlorhydrate C10H16, 2HCl, melting at 49° to 50°, no matter what the source may be-are all identical. A preliminary paper has been published by Frank D. Dodge on an investigation in which he is engaged of the volatile oils obtained from various tropical grasses of the genus Andropogon. Five of them are-known in commerce-oils of citronella, lemon grass, Indian or Turkish geranium, and vetivert, or cus cus. The Turkish geranium oil has been known and used since at least the time of Alexander the Great. The grass Andropogon squarrosus, Lin., from which oil of vetivert or cus cus is obtained, was probably the "birana" grass with a sweet-scented root mentioned in the Sanscrit classics. It is found in many parts of India and the East, and in the tropical parts of the New World. Mr. Dodge's first paper relates to the examination of citronella oil and its aldehyde, which is found to be easily convertible into a terpene and into cymene, and gives valerianic acid among the oxidation products. The oil of tansy, examined by Bruylants, bears a relation to oil of citronella. It is found to contain an aldehyde, C10H1.O, the corresponding alcohol, C10H180, and a terpene. Oil of Turkish geranium has been examined by Jacobsen, who found it to contain a monatomic alcohol, geraniol, C10H18O. The investigation of these and of the other oils, which are still unstudied, is continued.

An investigation has been published by W. E. Stone, of the University of Tennessee, concerning arabinose, a saccharine substance discovered and first prepared pure by Scheibler, from the cellular substance or pulp of sugar beets, or from gum Arabic. It is also found in cherry gum and tragacanth gum. The investigation concerned the relations of arabinose with the carbohydrates and to fermentation and the action of strong acids. The results showed that while galactose, lævulose, dextrose, and sorbose, types of the true carbonates, are all fermentable, arabinose is not subject to alcoholic fermentation. It forms no appreciable quantity of lævulinic acid when treated with strong mineral acids; and when distilled with dilute sulphuric acid yields large and constant quantities of furfurol, which the true carbohydrates do not. The fact that the last property is common to it and xylose, besides distinguishing that substance from the true carbohydrates, points to a relationship between the two. Arabinose and xylose are formed from substances contained in the seed coats of cereals and probably in numerous other natural products. Arabinose also differs from the true carbohydrates in its composition, which is expressed by the formula CH100s.

When many plants of the higher botanical orders are exhausted with petroleum-ether or alcohol, crystalline compounds may be separated from the extracts. These crystals, obtained from Cascara amarga and Phlox Carolina, have been analyzed by Helen C. DeS. Abbott and Henry Trimble, who conclude that the compound is a solid hydrocarbon. While liquid hydrocarbons are abundant in the plant kingdom, a similar

occurrence of compounds of this class in a solid or crystalline condition appears not to have been noticed.

By treating purified filter paper or fine carded cotton with sulphuric acid, Guignet has obtained a colloidal form of cellulose soluble in water. Before washing the cellulose forms a transparent gelatinous mass which is not affected by contact with acid, but which at 100° C. is rapidly converted into gelatin. The solution of colloidal cellulose in water is slightly milky, is readily filtered, deposits no precipitate, is not altered by boiling, is slightly orange yellow in color, and is precipitated, like other colloids, by certain acids and salts. It appears to be the substance with which the pores of parchment paper are filled.

Miscellaneous. From experiments with "photosalts" produced by chemical means which appeared identical with those produced by light, Mr. M. Carey Lea came to the conclusion that those substances consist of a silver haloid (normal chloride, bromide, or iodide) combined with the corresponding subsalt, not in equivalent proportions, but after the manner of a "lake"; the subsalts, being unstable substances when isolated, acquiring greater stability by the union. This view was disputed by Dr. Hodgkinson, in England, whose conclusion was that an oxysalt and not a subsalt was formed. Although he regarded the evidence of the formation of a subsalt (subchloride) amply sufficient, Mr. Lea made further experiments, the results of which appear to establish his theory.

Prof. J. W. Mallet has found that the greater part of the alum baking-powders in our markets are made with alum, acid phosphate of calcium, bicarbonate of sodium, and starch; that, giving off very different proportions of carbonicacid gas, they require to be used in different proportions with the same quantity of flour; that, while there is generally an excess of the alkaline ingredient in them, the acid is sometimes in excess; that they yield on moistening small quantities of aluminum and calcium in a soluble condition; that, after baking, they leave most of their aluminum as a phosphate or as a hydroxide, both of which tend to produce an inhibitory effect on gastric digestion, and may probably also bring about partial precipitation in insoluble form of some of the inorganic matter of food. Hence the conclusion is deduced that not only alum itself, but the residues which its use in baking-powder leaves in bread, can not be viewed as harmless, but must be ranked as objectionable, and should be avoided when the object aimed at is the production of wholesome bread."

A systematic study of the action of definitely related chemical compounds upon animals has been begun by Prof. Wolcott Gibbs and Dr. H. A. Hare, the first paper on which is published in the "American Chemical Journal" for October. Its object is to determine whether it is possible to trace general laws in the action of definitely related compounds upon the animal organization, so that it will be possible to predict, within certain limits at least, what the action of a given substance will be and what modifications that action will undergo when chemical changes are produced by the replacement of particular elements or groups of elements, or by other definite

and generally applicable chemical processes. The experiments so far related were made with ortho, meta, and para nitrophenols, nitranilines, amido-benzoic acids, and nitro-benzoic acids. Notwithstanding the dictum uttered by the French Academy of Medicine many years ago that no arsenic could be detected in the clear glasses met with in commerce, all the arsenic being volatilized during the processes of manufacture, the presence of that substance has been recognized in later years. An investigation by John Marshall and C. S. Potts was instituted to determine the presence of arsenic in glass of American and of foreign manufacture; the action of the caustic alkalies, strong acids, and ordinary laboratory reagents upon the arsenical glass of the bottles in which they were contained; and the occurrence of arsenic in commercial caustic soda, sodium carbonate, and in sodium hydrate and sodium carbonate sold as chemically pure. Every sample of clear glass examined except one and all the caustic soda except one sample, which was made by the Solvay process, contained arsenic. The caustic potash, ammonium hydroxide, and the common reagents examined were found to be free from arsenic. The strong acids, ammonium hydroxide, and ordinary reagents had no dissolving action upon the surface of arsenical glass bottles, whereas solutions of the fixed alkalies had such solvent action. Additional experiments have been made by W. N. Hartley on the effects of acids upon ultramarine. The author had expressed the conclusion, in the "British Association" in 1886, that, in water-color drawings in which ultramarine was mixed with red for the production of certain effects, the colors were liable to suffer from the action of acids such as might be found in the drawing paper, or in the damp atmosphere of towns where much coal is burned. In after experiments, powders of distinctly colored portions of specimens of lapis lazuli exposed to sulphuric acid were attacked, and in nearly every case completely decolorized. Where the blue color was not quite destroyed, examination with a powerful lens showed that blue particles remained which had not been finely enough powdered. Several minute lumps of the color were observed to be etched by the acid, so as to show white spots here and there. Hence the fineness of the powder has much influence on the facility with which the mineral is attacked. Some of the powdered mineral was made red hot and thrown into dilute acetic acid. After waiting for five minutes the blue color was not appreciably diminished. Under these circumstances, however, the color was in considerable quantity, while in the previous experiments the powder was much finer and in a thin layer, and, though there was a slight action immediately, it was about an hour before the color was completely destroyed. The effects were unequally rapid in the different specimens. It does not appear, therefore, to the author that his statement concerning the use of ultramarine as a pigment upon drawing paper requires modification.

The absorption spectrum of oxygen has engaged attention on account of the important part which that element plays in the world, and on account of the remarkable character of the absorption in exhibiting bands of two different

classes, and variable under varying circumstances of condensation and combination. The study of it is expected to throw light on the nature of the molecular changes brought about by different circumstances. In the experiments in this field described by Liveing and Dewar the absorption of the ultra-violet rays did not extend quite so far down as the limit of the solar spectrum, though it approached it. A diffuse edge of gradually diminishing absorption succeeds the complete absorption, and this, with other facts makes it likely that the limit of the solar spectrum is due to the absorption of ordinary oxygen. Observations on atmospheric air were made under the same circumstances as those on oxygen, and the two sets were fairly comparable. The observations on the absorption of liquid oxygen confirmed those of Olzewski. The absorption by ozone extended far below the limit of the solar spectrum, and no identity was traced between the phenomena and those exhibited by ordinary

oxygen.

The specific gravity of a large series of samples of fats and oils has been examined by C. A. Crampton, of the laboratory of the United States Department of Agriculture, by means of the Archimedian method. While the plummet of a Westphal balance is used, the weighings are made with an ordinary balance. The densities of certain fats which are solid at 35°, were taken with an adaptation of the ordinary specific-gravity flask. The specific gravities were thus taken of the more important samples, including both the harder fats and the lards and oils. The co-efficients of expansion were also ascertained in all cases. Many of the samples being typical, the author has published a table of the results obtained, which he thinks may prove valuable in establishing standards. The results add testimony to the accuracy of the Archimedian method for taking specific gravities.

The International Chemical Congress met in Paris, July 29, under the presidency of M. Berthellot. It was predominantly attended by Frenchspeaking chemists. The proceedings related largely to nomenclature. Some of the results were of narrow technical application, and others were most interesting to French chemists. Among those of more general interest and application were the conclusions that the two carbon atoms in ethylene and the two hydrogen atoms in urea shall be distinguished by the letters a and b; that the aldehydes shall be named after their corresponding alcohols; that the suffix -ol shall be reserved as far as possible for alcohols, and in the hydrocarbons shall be replaced by the ending -ene; and that the prefix bi- shall in future be reserved for bodies formed by the union of two radicals; while the prefix di- shall be used, as at present, to denote bodies formed by double substitution. An international committee was constituted to promote uniformity of chemical nomenclature, on which Prof. Ira Remsen was invited to represent the United States.

Mr. Thomas B. Warren has found that pea-nut oil, when electrified, becomes extremely sensitive to heat. Even slightly touching the finger to a glass inclosing the experimenting tube caused deflection of the galvanometer; and this while the space between the two glasses was half an inch and packed with non-heat-conducting ma

terial. Even the best solid conductors-such as copper and silver-do not show such remarkable behavior to heat, and no other oil behaves in so pronounced a manner; but a mixture containing pea-nut oil shows the susceptibility in a degree proportional to the quantity of that substance present.

A series of experiments upon combustions in nitric-acid vapor have been described by Prof. P. T. Austen. A glowing chip of wood was inflamed and burned energetically, much as in oxygen; but, as the red tetroxide of nitrogen-N,O,-was formed by the reduction of the nitric acid, a ruddy halo was seen to play around the flame. Charcoal burned brilliantly, and the scintillations in the red tetroxide gas produced a very fine effect. A steel watch-spring may be burned when started with sulphur, but with an effect different from that in oxygen; a red halo is formed around each melted globule of iron as it falls. Phosphorus burns with great beauty, with a dazzling white flame, passing into deep red at the edges. Most beautiful effects are obtained by the combustion of readily oxidizable gases from jets suspended in the nitric-acid vapor. Hydrogen burns with an intensely white flame, very different from the flame in oxygen, surrounded by a deep-red envelope. Coal gas continues to burn with a white center, enveloped, as in the case of hydrogen, with a red halo. When first introduced, the flame becomes musical; then it degenerates into a series of rapid, slight explosions, and at length, after a certain amount of nitrogen tetroxide has formed, burns quietly. Sulphureted hydrogen burns with a bright-yellow flame, and the flask becomes filled with a cloud of minute chamber-crystals, resulting, from the action of the sulphur dioxide and water formed upon the tetroxide of nitrogen simultaneously produced. Ammonia burns with a flame consisting of a bright-yellow nucleus, surrounded by a greenish-yellow envelope. This passes into an outer envelope of carmine red, which deepens as the amount of tetroxide of nitrogen increases.

CHEVREUL, MICHEL EUGENE, a French chemist, born in Angers, France, Aug. 31, 1786; died in Paris, April 9, 1889. He was the son of a physician of high repute, who held a chair in the old University of Angers, was a prolific writer, and died at the age of ninety-one. His mother, Madeliene Bachelier, was a woman of ability, survived her husband, and died at Angers after attaining her ninety-third year. The boy passed his childhood at home, and after the revolution spent five years at the Central School. Among his recollections of those early years, he mentioned the guillotining of two young girls who were accused of hiding some refractory priests, and he was a witness of the battle of Murs Rock between the Vendeans and the Republicans, which he saw from the country home of his parents on the banks of the Loire. In 1803 he went to Paris, where he entered the laboratory of Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, who was then Professor of Chemistry in the faculty of medicine. So rapid were the advances made by Chevreul that three years later the entire direction of the laboratory was given to him. He became preparator of the chemical course in the Museum of Natural History in 1810, and in 1813 was made Professor of Chemistry at the Lycée

fats, which till then had been regarded as pure immediate principles, were formed of substances among which were margarine, oleine, and stearine. The latter substance, by furnishing stearic acid, gave rise to the manufacture of stearine candles. His labors on fatty bodies, and his theory of saponification, created new industries and opened wider horizons to the theories of organic chemistry. According to J. B. Dumas, his great contemporary, this work formed a perpetual model for chemists, and demonstrated the method by which hundreds of millions of artificial substances could be prepared. In 1824 he was appointed director of the dye-works and special Professor of Chemistry at the Gobelins factory, and thereafter he devoted his attention largely to the study of color. He showed that the harmonies of colors are due to immutable laws, which he revealed, and the certainty of which is demonstrated by calculation; he also discovered the laws of the simultaneous or successive contrasts of color; the theory of colored shadows; and the art of defining, by means of a chromatic circle, every shade by a figure. His publications on this subject include "Leçons de chimie appliquée à la teinture" (1823-31); "De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs et de l'assortements des objets coloriés " (1839); and "Des couleurs et de leurs applications aux arts industriels a l'aide des cercles chromatiques" (1864). The appointment at the Gobelins he held until his death, and a few years ago, when asked to give way to a younger man, he refused, claiming that he was still sufficiently active to do the work. In 1830 he succeeded Vauquelin as Professor at the Museum of Natural History, and continued in that place until 1883. He took up his residence in the quarters assigned to him near the Jardin des Plantes, and there he died. During the FrancoPrussian War he endured the privations of the siege, and did not leave Paris. More than eighty Prussian bombs shattered the galleries and broke the cases of his museum, some of them even

bursting in the vicinity of his laboratory. Indignant at this treatment, he caused to be entered in the proceedings of the Academy of Sciences, on Jan. 9, 1871, this protest: "The garden of medicinal plants, founded at Paris by an edict of Louis XIII, in the month of January, 1626, became the Museum of Natural History, by a decree of the Convention, June 10, 1793, was bombarded under the reign of William I, King of Prussia, Count Bismarck, chancellor, by the Prussian army on the night of Jan. 8-9, 1871; up till when it had been respected by all parties and by all national and foreign powers. E. Chevreul director." These words, carved in marble, have been placed in the Jardin des Plantes. At the close of the war he presented two papers to the Academy, in which he described his experiences during the siege, and complained of the interference of his studies. His first scientific paper, published in 1806, related to a chemical examination of fossils found in the department of Eure and Loire. His other researches include the application of oleic acid to the preparation of wool for cloth, the practice of charring the interior of water-casks, and a great number of technical researches. His last paper, entitled "The Part played by Nitrogen in Vegetable Economy," was presented to the Academy on May 22, 1888. All the articles on chemistry in the " Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles " were written by him, and he was an editor of the "Journal des savants." He published, besides the books already mentioned, "Considérations sur l'histoire de la partie de la médicine qui concerne la prescription des remèdes" (1865); "Histoire des connaissances chimiques" (1866); and others pertaining to chemistry. Several of his works have been translated in English, German, and other languages. He was a member of the international jury at the World's Fair held in London in 1851, and was then awarded a premium for the benefits that he had conferred upon humanity by his researches. Until 1855 he was a member of the jury at every French exhibition, and in 1853 he was awarded the Argenteuil prize of twelve thousand francs by the Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale for his investigations on fatty substances. He passed through the various ranks in the Legion of Honor, until he attained that of the Grand Cross in 1875. Honorary degrees of M. D. and LL. D. were conferred upon him by several universities. In 1826 he succeeded Proust in the chemical section of the Academy of Sciences, and was thereafter a regular attendant every Monday at its meetings. He was early chosen a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, and most of the leading scientific societies of the world had his name on their rolls. In the United States he was one of the foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences and an honorary fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science, which distinction-but twice conferred-was given him on the celebration of his hundredth birthday. His centenary was celebrated in 1886 with great rejoicing. At the Academy of Sciences a bronze bust of him, executed by Paul Dubois, was presented to him by his colleagues; and at the Museum of Natural History a statue of him by Guillaume was unveiled, and representatives from scientific societies the world over presented

addresses of congratulation. The Society of National Agriculture, of which he was the only president until his death, gave him a medal. A banquet was given at the Hotel de Ville, in which three hundred and fifty guests participated, and a special representation of the opera was held in his honor. The inhabitants of the Rue Chevreul illuminated their houses and sent a deputation with an address to him. He was active in other than scientific directions. For many years he held the office of Maire of L'Hay near Bourg-laReine, where he owned a large farm. He was a captain in the National Guard. He was fond of society, was a regular attendant at the Théâtre Francais and the Opera Comique, and even until recent years he could be seen at the winter balls given at the Elysée. From boyhood he was a strict abstainer from all alcoholic liquors and from tobacco, and he attributed his long life and vigorous health to his simple and regular habits. His funeral was conducted with elaborate ceremonies at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and was participated in by delegations from scientific societies and representatives of the Government. The body was entombed in the family vault at L'Hay. For a list of his publications see "Principaux Travaux de Monsieur Chevreul" (Paris, 1886).-His only son, HENRI, who was born in 1820, and died in Dijon, in March, 1889, lived with his father until late in life, when he settled in Dijon, where he was made mayor. In 1888 he visited Paris to obtain better medical treatment, but his father resented his fragility of constitution, and observed that he never expected to raise that child.

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CHILI, an independent republic of South America. (For details relating to area, territorial divisions, and, population, see Annual Cyclopædia" for 1884 and 1888.) Government.-The President is Don Manuel Balmaceda, whose term of office will expire on Sept. 18, 1891. The Cabinet is composed of the following ministers: Foreign Affairs, Don Isidoro Errazuriz; Interior, Don Ramon Donaso Vergara; Treasury, Don Pedro Lucio Cuadra; Industries and Public Works, Don Pedro Moutt; War and Navy, Don Juan Castellon; and Justice, Señor Ismael Valdes. The Chilian Minister to the United States is Don Emilio C. Varas. The Consul-General in New York is Don Federico A. Beelen. The Consul-General for California, Nevada, and Oregon, resident at San Francisco, is Don Juan de la Cruz Cerda. The United States Minister to Chili is Patrick Egan; the American Consul at Valparaiso is James W. Romeyn.

Army. The strength of the permanent army, in 1888, was 5,610, consisting of eight battalions of infantry, three regiments of horse, two regiments and one battalion of artillery, and one battalion of engineers. There are 960 commissioned officers. The National Guard numbers 48,854; 40,641 being infantry, 1,730 mounted, and 6,483 artillery.

Navy. The navy consists of two armored frigates, one monitor, three corvettes, two gunboats, three cruisers, and three pontoons, mounting together 85 guns, registering 16,200 tons, with an aggregate horse-power of 4,200, and being manned by 1,573 sailors. There are also five small steamers and twenty-five torpedo boats.

There are 86 commissioned officers. Chili ordered in 1889 an armor-clad and two cruisers in France, and two torpedo gunboats in England, The ironclad is to have a displacement of 6,000 tons, an armament of four 94-inch guns mounted in two turrets, and a secondary battery of six 6-inch guns. A belt of Creusot steel armor will extend the whole length of the vessel, which will also have an armored deck. The speed is to be seventeen knots with natural draught. The new iron-clad, to be launched by the French Company of the Mediterranean toward the close of 1889, claims to realize the ideal of offensive power sufficient for running fights, with defensive strength adequate to the contest of large armored vessels, while at the same time it possesses perfect manageability and a moderate displacement. The ship is to be named the " Arturo Prat," after the captain of the "Esmeralda," who was killed in the engagement off Iquique in 1879. Its length will be 325 feet, and its breadth 60 feet. Its displacement will be 6,800 tons, and its normal speed, with a horse-power of 8,600, seventeen knots. The central tower is composed of four turrets, each containing a gun workable by hand, and not exceeding 23 tons in weight, which is capable of piercing at 100 yards a plate of 18-inch iron. There are four other turrets, each containing two guns of smaller caliber. The ship also carries four guns for rapid firing, eight mitrailleuses, and four tubes for discharging torpedoes.

Finances. On July 1, 1889, the foreign indebtedness of Chili was $39,748,000, while the home debt had been reduced to $23,834,484. The revenue collected by the Government in 1888 was $50,183,938, the expenditure amounting to $46,135,501. Adding surpluses of the kind resulting from former years, the Government had an available fund of savings of $25,000,000 on Jan. 1, 1889. The budget for 1889 estimated the income at $50,000,000, and the outlay at $59,561,880; the receipts for the budget of 1890 were estimated at $56,000,000. Congress had authorized the Government to raise money by loan in Europe to the amount of £3,000,000 for railroad material to be purchased for Government lines, but it contented itself with floating £1,546,392 4 per cent. bonds at 1014.

Abolition of Certain Duties.-A law has been enacted, to take effect four months from Aug. 30, 1889, abolishing import duties on machines and tools for the use of agriculture, mining, trades, and industries; pipes or tubes composed of copper, bronze, or iron, galvanized or ungalvanized, knees, joints, "T's" and other such necessary articles; iron or steel wire, galvanized or ungalvanized. up to the number fourteen inclusive, and copper wire, or insulating composition for transmission of electric currents; telephonic and telegraphic instruments, insulators, iron or steel posts, and other special necessaries for telegraphs and telephones; the material of iron or steel for the permanent way of either steam or horse railways and also for portable railways; wheels, axles, and felloes of iron or steel for railway vehicles, and the cars for portable railways; iron in plates.

Postal Service.-The number of post-offices in 1888 was 484, which dispatched during the year 15,491,873 letters, 45,571 sample packages,

15,280 judicial notifications, 810,772 Government messages, and 22,360,137 newspapers; together, 38,830,461 items of mail-matter. The receipts amounted to $464,431.

Railroads. In 1888 there were in operation 1,096 kilometres of state lines and 1,597 private lines; together, 2,693 kilometres. The total cost of the state lines was $43,992,873 in 1886; in 1888 it was $48,297,698. The net earnings in 1886 were $2,406,050. Early in 1888 1,262 kilometres of new state lines were projected, estimated to cost $16,200,000, and 894 kilometres of private lines. Among the latter is the Chilian section of the transandine railroad from San Felipe across the Andes to the Argentine frontier, on $5,000,000 of the cost of which the Chilian Government has guaranteed 5 per cent. interest for twenty years. On April 5, 1889, President Balmaceda laid the first rail on this road at Santa Rosa de los Andes. On the Argentine side of the Andes 1,030 kilometres are in operation; on the Chilian, 133. The gap between Mendoza in the Argentine Republic and Santa Rosa, is 240 kilometres. Out of these, 90 kilometres were nearly finished in the summer of 1889, while on 40 thereof the rails had actually been laid. The Cumbre or Uspalata pass will have to be tunneled on this line a distance of 5 kilometres, at an altitude of 3,185 metres above sea-level. The pass attains a height of 3,967 metres, and is in 33° of south latitude, between the giant Aconcagua (6,834 metres high), and the Tupungato (6,178 metres). This important railway will be ready for commerce before 1892. The Government, on Oct. 17, 1888, made a contract with the "North and South American Railway Construction Company" of New York, to build the 1,175 kilometres of state lines authorized by Congress, for the sum of £3,542,000, a deposit of $1,000,000 being made by the company as security that the contract will be carried out. These 1,175 kilometres are to be distributed as follows: Victoria to Valdivia, 403; Coihuhe to Mulchen, 43; Tomé to the line of the Central railroad, 200; Constitucion to Talca, 89; Palmilla to Pichilemu, 45; Pelequen to Peumo, 28; Santiago to Melipilla, 59; La Hilera to Cabildo, 78; Los Vilos to Salamanca, 128; Ovalle to San Marcos, 60; Huasco to Vallenar, 48. During the summer of 1889 the company got into financial difficulties, and was declared bankrupt by the Commercial Tribunal of Santiago.

Telegraphs.-The number of offices in 1888 was 313, 240 of them being Government offices. The length of lines was 17,023 kilometres, of which 11,247 belonged to the state. Over the Government lines 572,383 telegrams were sent in 1887, and of these 95,486 were official dispatches. The receipts in the same year aggregated $480,000.

Steamship Lines.-In the summer of 1889 there were in operation between Chili and Europe the following steamship lines: Two Hamburg lines; the English Pacific Steam Navigation Company's; the Italian Florio and Rubattino line; the French Compagnie Maritime du Pacifique; the Chilian Compañia Sudamericana de Vapores (till recently only a coastwise navigation company, but in future to extend its trips to Liverpool); and the Valparaiso-Liverpool Gulf line.