MATAPEDIAC RIVER
1188
MATHER
55 miles by rail east of Havana. It is the third, largest city in Cuba, in a very rich district, with a good harbor. It has a large trade in sugar, molasses, rum and cigars, and has distilleries and iron-foundries. Population 64,385.
Mat'apecT'iac River, Quebec, famous among anglers on account of its magnificent salmon-fishing, flows out of Lake Mata-pediac, 13 miles by one and a half miles, and empties into the Restigouche some 18 miles above Campbelton. The territory watered by the river and its tributaries is about 1,300 square miles. All the rich valley is abundantly watered by rivers and streams, and valuable waterpowers abound. The Intercolonial Railroad for 40 miles skirts the river, putting the settlers into direct communication with Quebec, Montreal, St. John, N. B., and Halifax.
Match'es, splints of wood tipped with some composition (usually containing phosphorus) to produce light by friction. They came into general use about 1834. Before that time light was produced by striking steel with a flint and catching the sparks on tinder (charred cotton). A flame was obtained by touching the burning tinder with punk or with a strip of wood tipped with sulphur. Savage races sometimes obtain light by rubbing two bits of wood together. Other devices employed formerly were a lens to concentrate the sun's rays on some inflammable substance; a lamp for producing a jet of hydrogen gas and kindling it by making it play on spongy platinum; a splint tipped with a mixture of chlorate of potash and sugar, which took fire on contact with sulphuric acid; and the lucifer match, invented 75 years ago, tipped with a paste of chemicals, which would take fire when drawn with a good deal of pressure across sandpaper. Phosphorus, introduced in 1834, was a great improvement. The chief operations in the manufacture of matches are cutting the wood-splints; immersing the splints in melted paraffine or sometimes in sulphur; and preparing the igniting composition and dipping the splints into it. Matches are made of pine or aspen. The wood is sawed into blocks, which are then forced endwise through thick, steel plates full of little holes with sharp edges and just the size of a match. The splints thus formed are then fed by thousands to dipping-frames by filling-machines (of which there are several kinds and of American invention). In the dipping-room the igniting composition is spread on a hollow, iron table kept hot by steam, and the splints are dipped into it. Nearly every manufacturer has his own special mixture for the dipping of matches, and phosphorus is an important element in all of them; but in the case of so-called safety-matches there is phosphorus only on the prepared surface upon which they are ignited. Match-
making is an important industry in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and Norway.
Math'er, Cotton, son of Increase Mather, was born at Boston, Feb. 12, 1663. He graduated at Harvard in 1678. When only 14 he began a system of fasts, which he kept up all his life. Wishing to enter the ministry, he conquered an impediment of speech and became his father's assistant in North Church, Boston. He was much interested in civi' aifairs, and drew up the declaration of the colonists justifying the imprisonment of Governor Andros. In 1685 appeared his Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions, which was used as an authority in the Salem witch-trials. In 1688 the children of John Goodwin were suspected of being visited by the devil, and Mather with three other ministers held a day of fasting and prayer over the cases. His Wonders of the Invisible World was written to prove the reality of witchcraft. He and his books did much to fan the madness. Though the main body of the colonists shared his belief, none equaled him in zeal, and on his head rests the heaviest burden. Afterward he confessed that "there had been a going too far in that affair." But Mather did no worse than the best and most learned men of Christendom, from Pope Innocent VIII to Sir Matthew Hale. His industry and learning were remarkable, and he published 382 books. Of these the chief is Magnolia Christi Americana, a mass of materials for the church-history of New England. His Essays to Do Good were much liked by Franklin. Mather died on Feb. 13, 1728. See Upham's History of the Salem Delusion and Poole's Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft.
Mather, Increase, was born at Dorchester, Mass., on June 21, 1639. He graduated at Harvard in 1656 and at Trinity College, Dublin, two years later. He entered the ministry and preached in Devonshire and Guernsey before going back to America. From 1664 until his death he was pastor of North Church, Boston. From 1685 to 1701 he was president of Harvard College, and was the first minister in America to receive the degree of doctor of divinity. When Charles II annulled the charter of the colony (1684), Mather was sent to England as the agent of Massachusetts. Unable to get the old charter restored, he took back a new one (1692), under which the naming of the crown-officers was left to him. A day of thanksgiving was appointed for his safe return and the success of his mission. Mather studied 16 hours a day, always gave a tenth of his income in charity, and in every way was a man of careful habits. He also was one of the earliest of American writers. Of his many works perhaps the best known is his Remark"
