an active overland trade with the Chinese Empire is the only peaceable object which would yield adequate returns for the Russian operations in Central Asia. The monopoly of the Chinese trade has been one of the traditional aims of the Russian Government. The new treaty opens another free passage through the Great Wall besides Kalgan, which has been the terminus of the Russian caravans for two hundred years. The new entrance at Souchow, near the western end of the Great Wall, will not probably transfer the business of the old route to that town, but will open up a new trade of uncertain value. The Russians will not be allowed to conduct their caravans beyond Souchow, but will have consular representatives in that place, in Turfan, and at other points. The country which is commercially tributary to the new route is not, however, one of very rich resources. Souchow lies west of the province of Kansu and within trading distance of Kulja, Kashgaria, and the neighboring states. The portion of the province of Ili which was retained by Russia is a tract which had been colonized by Russian subjects. It extends from the post Boro-Kudzir to the river Kargos, being the northwest abutting corner of the Kulja district. The indemnity payable by China is ten million rubles. The common frontier between the Chinese and Russian dominions, extending from Kashgaria in the west to the river Tumen-Dham in the east, has a length of nearly five thousand miles. The difficulties experienced in transporting troops and preparing for the Russian invasion which seemed imminent during certain stages of the Kulja controversy, have had the effect of arousing the practical administrators in China to the necessity of disregarding the prejudices of the court and the academy against railroads and telegraphs, and of providing their country with the defensive advantages of modern means of transport and communication. Apart from the conservative opposition to barbarian innovations, there have been physical difficulties in the way of the utilization of the telegraph by the Chinese, owing to the complexity of their alphabet. This difficulty would be removed by the adoption of the autographic system, or still better by the employment of the telephone, the improvements in which instrument are watched with great interest in China. The Government has authorized LiHung - chang to construct a telegraph from Peking to Tientsin and Shanghai. The Government has also taken into consideration a project, approved by the principal officers of the army, to build a railroad from the capital to the port of Tientsin, seventy miles distant, and thence to the Yangtse River, five hundred miles farther south. The latter section, if the plan is adopted, can not probably be undertaken soon in the present state of the imperial finances, at least not until the Russian indemnity is cleared off.

Two additional gunboats were completed for

the Chinese navy by Armstrong in the summer. Like the nine which had before been furnished, they are of diminutive size, and are entirely unarmored; but, unlike the rest of the fleet, they carry large guns of a penetrative power only equaled by those of the huge new English and Italian ironclads. They are fleeter than any armored craft; are so small that they can not be easily hit, and if hit are not likely to be disabled, as their vulnerable parts are under water.

The clearing out of the obstructed waterways of the metropolitan province has been undertaken at the instigation of Tso-Tsungt'ang, who proposes to employ several thousand veteran soldiers on the work. Prince Ch'un and Li-Hung-chang supported their political opponent in this costly but necessary improvement. The net-work of rivers which intersect this part of China flow through the vast alluvial plain with a current so sluggish that they become filled with silt if they are not periodically dredged out. Neglect to do this for many years past has occasioned frequent and destructive inundations.

The Chinese Government seem to have grown more earnest in their efforts to suppress the opium-vice. In England a growing popular sentiment demands the stoppage of the Indian supplies of the drug. A smaller proportion of the opium consumed in China comes from India than has been commonly supposed. In Western China, where the habit is almost universal and is indulged in openly, the entire supply is locally produced, and in the eastern provinces the lower classes use the coarser Chinese product. In Eastern Sze-Chuen, Kwei-Chow, and Southwestern Hu-Pei, and other parts of the west, there is an enormous production, larger considerably than is reported to the Government. The province of Yunnan has been restored to cultivation, the leading crop being a winter growth of poppies. A large contraband trade is carried on with the eastern provinces. In Eastern China also there are opium districts on the border-land of Chihli, Ho-Nan, Shantung, and Kiang-Su. The crop is seven times as remunerative as grain, but is less sure. In famine years the officials sometimes destroy the poppy-crops according to law, but at other times there is usually no interference with the culture. In the treaty recently concluded with Russia, as in the commercial treaty with the United States, the Chinese Government inserted a clause prohibiting the importation of opium. These provisions indicate an intention to reopen the subject of the Indian imports of opium, either with the design of stamping out the vice, or of preventing India from draining from China through the opium monopoly sums huge enough in the aggregate to pay a large proportion of the enormous expenses of her government. The reports of the trade for 1879 show that the imports were larger than in any previous year, and about 15 per cent in excess of those of the preceding year, being

82,927 piculs in all (1 picul=1334 lbs.). There were 2,300 piculs of Persian opium, which has been much used of late years to mix with the other sorts. The rest of the importation was exclusively of Indian production. The domestic product, whether the culture is forbidden, connived in, or encouraged by the local authorities, is equal to the total imports several times multiplied, and acquires larger proportions annually. The Treaty of Tientsin fixed the maximum tariff which the Chinese Government might impose upon Indian opium. China has persistently endeavored to obtain the rescission of this clause. The income derived by the Indian Government from the monopoly of the opium manufacture has increased meanwhile from £4,000,000 to £9,000,000, and the cultivation of opium in India is still spreading. Financial considerations, supported by the usages of international law, would explain and justify China's attitude in demanding the removal of the restriction upon her right to regulate her own tariff. There are evidences, however, of sincerity in the present efforts of the Chinese authorities to discourage and gradually exterminate the pernicious habit of opium-smoking. The Indian traffic night properly engage their attention pre-eminently on account of the spread of the vice among the respectable classes, who use the Indian-grown article only. The number of persons in China who suffer from the opium-habit is estimated by the inspector-general of customs, Mr. Hart, at not over 2,000,000, or of one per cent of the total population. The Secretary of State of China recently addressed a letter to the British Government, in which he described the pernicious effects of the traffic. There are indications that when the demand to rescind the oppressive clause in the treaty with Great Britain is urged, the power of public opinion in England will compel its abrogation, notwithstanding the grave problem in the finances of India, from one sixth to one third of whose revenues are drawn from this ignoble traffic.

The total foreign commerce of China in 1880, as returned at the treaty ports, was 157,000,000 taels, a larger amount than ever before reached. The share of the British Empire amounted to at least 120,000,000 taels, and that of Great Britain alone to 49,000,000. The proportion of the carrying trade conducted in British ships is as great, 73 per cent of the exports and imports being carried in British bottoms. The coast wise trade, 40 per cent of which was once done by American vessels, is now equally divided between native and British craft. The extraordinary quantities of American cottons brought into China in 1878 and 1879, which caused a tremor in British commercial circles, ceased to be exported as soon as better prices ruled in the United States. The high average prices obtainable in the domestic market seem to deter the American manufacturers from extending their facilities and entering into serious competition with the

British cotton-millers for this important trade which the high reputation of their goods places within their grasp. The import of American drillings fell off from 633,000 pieces in 1879 to 172,000 pieces in 1880, while British drills rose from 387,000 pieces in 1879 to 628,000 pieces in 1880. American sheetings continue in demand at prices which tempt American exporters; but they are being imitated and undersold by an inferior Lancashire fabric. The warning given by the marked preference of the consumers for unadulterated goods in the years of American competition has been heeded in England. There was a much smaller proportion of heavily sized goods imported into China in 1880 than in previous years. The importation of the Manchester staples, gray shirtings and T-cloths, in which there has never been any competition, increased from 3,130,000 pieces in 1865 to 7,519,000 pieces in 1875, and 8,260,000 pieces in 1880, while the prices have fallen.

CHLOROPHYL, PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF. The conversion of the carbonic acid of the atmosphere into living protoplasm in the green organs of plants may be considered the starting-point of animate nature. The first living organisms which appeared upon the planet must have been chlorophyl-containing plants. All the phenomena of life are consequent and dependent upon the constructive operations by which the primary gases and their simple compounds are transformed into highly complex substances within the bodies of plants, chief of which is the formation of hydrocarbons by the leaves. Animals, and the few plants which are without chlorophyl, only subsist by the destruction and resolution into their lifeless elements of the substances thus built up by green plants. The nature of this primary and fundamental process in the chemistry of life is a mystery. The green coloring matter of the leaves has seemed to be the chief agent in vegetable alimentation, and its action seems to be excited by the sunlight. The results of the German botanist Pringsheim, who has devoted several years to an investigation of the office of chlorophyl, even if his theoretical deductions are not conclusive in all points, throw a new light upon the properties and action of chlorophyl and substantially forward the solution of the greatest problem of organic chemistry.

Careful observations of the optical properties of chlorophyl confirmed the findings of previous investigators. Chlorophyl solutions of various degrees of density were found by spectroscopic analysis to absorb the blue and violet rays in a much greater measure than the red, yellow, and green. The structure of the chlorophyl corpuscles has been established for the first time by Pringsheim. They consist of a honey-combed spherule of some solid substance, probably an albuminoid, whose cavities are filled with an oil containing the chlorophyl in solution. In the chlorophyl corpus

cles he has found a new substance, to which he gives the name of hypochlorin. When chlorophyl-cells are placed for twenty-four hours in dilute hydrochloric acid, and then washed with water and laid in glycerine, in a short time brownish drops are seen to ooze out of the chlorophyl-granules. These consist of hypochlorin, which has been drawn out of the interior of the granule, probably by the mechanical action of the acid. After a space of time, long spiral needles, which seem to be imperfect crystals, form from the drops of hypochlorin. No hypochlorin is obtained from chlorophyl tissue which has been strongly heated. Wiesner found that chlorophyl is destroyed by intense sunlight. Pringsheim has shown that excessive sunshine destroys not only hypochlorin as well, but breaks down other constituents of the living plant-cell. The destruction of these substances, he found, by subjecting the parts of plants to concentrated sunlight, and interposing different coloring matters, takes place in the cold blue rays as well as in the warm red rays-much faster, indeed, in blue light. The decomposition was clearly due to a peculiar action of light, and not to the heating effect of the sun's rays. Further experiments showed that it only took place in the presence of free atmospheric oxygen. It was therefore a process of oxidation excited by light. It was known that the process of oxidation, analogous to the breathing of animals, took place in plant-cells, not only in the dark, but in the light as well; though it was believed to be more rapid in the dark. Pringsheim's observations prove that light greatly accelerates the process. Light seems, then, to perform two distinct and opposite parts in vegetation, one in the reduction of carbonic acid to substances poor in oxygen and highly combustible, the other in the combustion of certain of these assimilated materials. If the assimilation did not proceed more actively than the process of oxidation, plant-life would be impossible. The function of chlorophyl seems to be, then, to act as a shield or screen to prevent excessive oxidation, protecting the combustible products of assimilation from the action of light, which appears to excite and intensify the oxidation.

The first step in the nutritive process of plants, the primary assimilation product formed from inorganic matter, is an interesting subject of speculation. The laws of arithmetical proportion, which govern the combination of analogous organic compounds, have led to the prediction of numerous substances before they had been obtained in a separate state. The theory of Baeyer, that formic aldehyde, CHO, is the primary assimilation product, which forms the basis of the various hydrocarbons, is, therefore, not without justification. Pringsheim advances the hypothesis that hypochlorin is the product of the assimilative process. It will probably be obtained separate from other bodies and in quantities admitting

of analysis, and then its claim as the product of assimilation can be better considered. Pringsheim's supposition that it is a compound poor in oxygen is rendered likely by its ready combustion under the influence of focalized sunlight. Its generation in the chlorophyl-granules, and the little that is known of its chemical behavior, are indications in favor of its being the radical developed by the assimilative process, if there be but one, which, by a more moderate oxidation in the living cells, passes over into the hydrocarbons, oils, and other organic compounds. It is always associated with chlorophyl. In the seedlings of angiospermons plants which have been kept in the dark, neither chlorophyl nor hypochlorin are found. After they have been exposed to light awhile, they begin to turn green, and not till then do they show any traces of hypochlorin. A remarkable exception to the general rule is presented by seedlings of the conifers, since these produce both chlorophy and hypochlorin, though kept in a place where no light has access.

CLAYTON - BULWER TREATY. (See PANAMA CANAL.)

CLIFFORD, NATHAN, born at Rumney, New Hampshire, August 18, 1803; died at Cornish, Maine, July 25, 1881. In the Haverhill Academy he received a common-school education, and afterward graduated at the Hampton Literary Institution, being indebted to his own exertions for this advantage. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession in York County, Maine, 1827. In 1830 he was elected to the State Legislature as Representative from the town of Newfield, as a member of the Democratic party, of which he was considered one of the ablest leaders. He served until 1834, having been elected Speaker of the House in 1833. By Governor Dunlap Mr. Clifford was appointed Attorney-General of the State of Maine, which office he filled with distinguished ability. In 1838 he was nominated for Congress as a Representative from York district in place of Mr. John Fairfield, who was then the Democratic candidate for Governor. After an excited contest, he was elected by a large majority over Mr. Nathan D. Appleton, Whig. In 1840 he took the field as an advocate of Mr. Van Buren's re-election, and met in public discussions some of the most distinguished Whig orators, being recognized as one of the eloquent champions of the Democracy. He was re-elected to the Twenty-seventh Congress, receiving nine hundred majority of votes over Daniel Goodenow, Whig.

On Mr. Polk's accession to the presidency, Mr. Clifford was appointed Attorney-General of the United States. In this high position he acquitted himself in a manner which received the commendations of the bar and of the Supreme Court. As a member of Mr. Polk's Cabinet his talents were acknowledged by his party, and, when the Mexican War was draw

ing to a close, and the complications of General Scott, Mr. Trist, and Governor Marcy threatened the success of much that had been won by our arms, Mr. Clifford was sent to Mexico with full powers to conclude a treaty. Superseding all the functionaries as commissioner of the United States, he arranged the treaty of peace by which California became an integral portion of the United States. After bringing about this important piece of diplomacy, and having ratified the treaty with the reorganized Mexican Republic, he received the appointment of minister to Mexico as a testimonial for his valuable services. He remained there long enough to cement the new peace, and to secure the cordial and complete execution of the articles of the treaty, when he resigned, and went back to the practice of his profession in Portland, Maine. Although he did not again appear as a candidate for office during seven years, he found time to advocate the principles of Democracy and State Rights on all important occasions. At the bar of Maine he won an enviable reputation for forensic skill, and commanded a large and lucrative practice. In January, 1858, President Buchanan appointed him Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the intelligence of his elevation to this dignity was received with general satisfaction throughout the country, especially in Maine. He had been the first member of the Cabinet taken from that State, and the only representative she ever had in the Supreme Court.

The many years of his service on the bench were marked by a stern devotion to duty, as well as by integrity and capacity, and his appointment to the presidency of the famous Electoral Commission was everywhere regarded as most appropriate. He was a firm believer in Tilden's title, and his position made it necessary for him to sign the decisions of the commission. The preparation of the papers in the Florida case fell to Senator Hoar, on account of Senator Edmunds's illness, and their completion was delayed until within a few minutes of noon of the 4th of March. By insisting upon a rigid personal scrutiny of the papers Judge Clifford could have put off their execution until too late for the inauguration of Mr. Hayes. He did not, however, throw the smallest obstacle in the way of the work, but showed almost equal anxiety with Mr. Hoar in hurrying it forward, and promptly affixed his signature as soon as the documents were completed. During the administration of Mr. Hayes, however, he never went to the White House. In October, 1880, he was attacked with a serious illness, which was so severe that it not only incapacitated him from work, but affected his reason; despite a robust and hardy constitution, a complication of disorders arose, gangrene supervened, and it was found necessary to amputate one of his feet. From this illness he never recovered, and in his death the country has lost a man distin

guished for diplomatic and legal talents of a high order.

CLINTON, J. J., died May 25, 1881, at Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was the senior bishop of the conference of the African Zion Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Clinton was born about the year 1820, and enjoyed school advantages which were at that time denied to most of his race, and, although not a graduate of any university, he received an excellent academic education, and by his unusual natural abilities soon rose into prominence. He commenced his ministerial labors as an accredited preacher in Philadelphia in 1839, and as local preacher in 1840, entering the itinerant sphere in 1841. He was ordained deacon in 1844, elder in 1846, and was elected and consecrated to the episcopal office in May, 1864. As a worker for the African Zion Connection, he was among the first, and during the forty years of his labors traveled through almost every State in the Union. He was Missionary Bishop to the South during and subsequent to the war, and accomplished remarkable results in establishing missions and annual conferences which were the life of the colored Methodist Church in the South. As a contributor to the press he was forcible, eloquent as a public speaker, and in his preaching wonderfully effective. Possessed of rare executive ability, it was conceded by both white and colored people that as an episcopal officer he had few superiors. His death resulted from paralysis, and memorial services were held by all the churches of the conferences in his honor.

66

COLOMBIA (REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA ). For statistics relating to area, territorial division, population, etc., see Annual Cyclopædia" for 1877. Concerning the boundary question with Costa Rica, an extract of resolutions, passed in the Colombian Congress in 1880, was given in our volume for that year. It has been stated that toward the close of 1881 undoubted information had been received at Washington of a treaty said to have been signed between the two republics, intended for the purpose of securing European arbitration in the disputed question of isthmian territory. By the terms of the treaty, several arbitrators were proposed: First, the King of the Belgians; next, in case of that monarch's refusal, the King of Spain; and, finally, should the latter too decline, the President of the Argentine Republic. Neither of the disputants had made official communication of the treaty to the United States Government. It was hoped that the proposed arbitrators would refuse to act; for, if they accepted the offer, the Washington Government would, in the opinion of the author of the report, protest-"the United States claiming the rights of a virtual protectorate over the States upon the Isthmus of Panama as far as to the northern boundaries of the province of Chiriquí, and not disposed to relinquish that quasi-suzerainty, whatever the decision of a European arbitrator might be. It

is understood that M. de Lesseps is the author of the arbitration scheme, with a view to concentrate upon the Isthmus a European influence as against the United States, whose government is antagonistic to the Panama Canal." The President of Colombia was General Rafael Nuñez (from April 1, 1880, to March 31, 1882); and the Cabinet was composed of the following ministers: Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction, Señor R. Becerra (ad interim); Interior, Señor C. Calderon; Finance, Señor S. de Herrera; Commerce, Señor A. Roldan; Public Works, Post-Office, etc., Señor Gregorio Obregon; War and Marine, General Eliseo

Pavan.

Each of the foregoing functionaries has the title of president, except those of Cundinamarca and Tolima, who are styled governors.

The Colombian Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States is General R. S. D. Vila; and the Colombian Consul-General at New York is Señor Luis de Pombo.

The United States Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia is General Manney (accredited in 1881); and the United States consuls at Bogotá and the chief Colombian seaports respectively were as follows: Bogotá, Mr. B. Koppel; Panama, Mr. John M. Wilson; Aspinwall, Mr. James Thorington; Cartagena, Mr. Edmund W. P. Smith; Sabanilla and Barranquilla, Mr. E. P. Pellet; Rio Hacha, Mr. N. Davies (vice-consul).

The regulation strength of the army in time of peace is 3,000, and in time of war each of the nine States is required to furnish a contingent of one per cent of its population. The total number of officers in the Guardia Colombiana was officially given at 1,927 in 1880.

The revenue and expenditure of the republic for the fiscal year 1879-'80 were officially reported at $5,651,905 and $5,773,575, thus showing a deficit of $121,670. In the budget for the same year, the revenue and expenditure were estimated at $4,910,000 and $8,634,571; while in the President's message to Congress, on February 1, 1880, the revenue was set down at $10,469,291.071, and the expenditure at $9,926,013.524; but in these last figures must have been included items of expenditure extraordinary and loans to cover deficits.

"Owing to the peace which has been maintained, and which still reigns throughout the country," observes a Colombian newspaper correspondent, " a considerable rise is noticeable in national stocks. The custom-house department, for example, will produce in this financial year (1881-82) from $4,250,000 to VOL. XXI.-8 A

ject of the debt was published in London, in The subjoined communication on the sub1881:

SIR: The bondholders of the United States of Co

lombia may congratulate themselves upon the era of prosperity now dawning on that country. Colombia, favored by nature and the world's commerce, is destined to become, via the Panama Canal, the connecting link between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the medium of the commerce of two hemispheres. The Colombian Government, recognizing the important position thus assigned to it, has decided to re-establish its credit by recognizing at once its obligations to its foreign creditors, and has, by a circular, dated March 3, 1881, agreed hereafter to pay all coupons on its foreign debt as they fall due, and will pay immediately the coupon due October 31, 1879, in arrear, and also fund six quarterly coupons in arrear, giving bonds bearing 5 per cent interest. The secretary of the Foreign Bondholders' Committee has called a meeting for the 17th instant, to enable the bondholders to accept and ratify the above arrangement. The position of each bondholder will then be as follows: each holder of £100 stock will receive interest quarterly, on and from July 1st next, at the rate of 44 per cent, and will receive in addition one coupon in arrear cent per annum, hereafter to be increased to 5 per in cash, and six coupons in arrear in stock, making the nominal value of his holding £111 68. 3d. for each £100, bearing interest at the rate of 4 and 5 per cent, the present price of which is 45. Colombia, with such a future before her, necessitating her borrowing in the money markets of the world for the construction of railroads and other public works, has the strongest

incentives to maintain her credit. Hence her creditors

may be of good cheer.

March 10, 1881.

In September of the same year, however, the Council of Foreign Bondholders communicated that they had received authentic information from Bogotá, under date July 6th, that the Colombian Congress had closed without any steps having been taken to secure the ratification of the convention of the 3d of March, 1881, with the bondholders. The resumption of payment was consequently indefinitely postponed.

The foreign trade of the republic, in the year 1879-'80, was of the total value of $24,391,984 (of which $13,804,981 was for exports), against $24,499,165 (of which $13,711,511 stood for exports).

The chief export staples are gold, silver, Peruvian bark, coffee, skins, tobacco, Panama hats, India-rubber, and cotton.

The trade carried on through the port of Panama is of two kinds, local and transit. Of the former, we shall here mention only that with the United States, whither the exports for the year ending December 31, 1879, were of the classes and values exhibited in the annexed tabular statement: