Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/858

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U. S. CHRISTIAN COMMISSION.
734
UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

tion companies furthered its efforts in various ways. The following is a general summary of the work of the commission for the four years of the war: Delegates commissioned, 4859; Bibles and Testaments distributed, 1,466,748; hymn and Psalm books distributed. 1,370,053; knapsack books distributed, 8,308,052; bound library books distributed, 296,816; magazines and pamphlets distributed, 767,861; newspapers distributed, 18,126,002; tracts distributed, 39,104,243; sermons preached and prayer meetings held, 136,152; letters written by delegates, 92,321; cash receipts, $2,524,512; value of stores donated, $2,839,445; value of publications donated, $300,000. Consult Moss, Annals of the United States Christian Commission (Philadelphia, 1868).

UNITED STATES DAUGHTERS OF 1812. A patriotic society founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1892, and incorporated as a national organization February 25, 1901. It has for its object the perpetuation of the memory of the founders of America, with their records of service in the French War, the Revolution, and the War of 1812. It admits to membership women who are lineal descendants from an ancestor who assisted in the War of 1812, either as a military or naval officer, a soldier, or a sailor, or in any way gave aid to the cause. The membership is slightly over 1000.

UNITED STATES FLAG. See Flag.

UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY. See Military Academy, United States.

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. A national depository at Washington, D. C., under the control of the Smithsonian Institution (q.v.). The collections of the Smithsonian Institution, beginning with the private cabinet of James Smithson, and added to by the material deposited by various exploring expeditions, increased rapidly and soon filled the Smithsonian Building. When the Centennial Exposition, held in Philadelphia in 1876, was first considered, it was decided to make extensive exhibits, showing the development of the various governmental departments, and large collections were made for that purpose, which at the close of the Exposition were turned over to the National Museum, together with the choicest of the exhibits from 34 foreign governments. A building for the exhibition of these collections was authorized by Congress in 1879 and completed in 1881, and in 1903 Congress again authorized the construction of a building to cost $3,500,000. As at present organized, the National Museum is under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution as keeper ex officio, and in the direct charge of an assistant secretary, under whom are 18 curators in charge of special branches of science. A series of publications are issued by the National Museum, and include: (1) Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, part ii. begun in 1884; (2) Bulletin of the United States National Museum, begun in 1875 and now numbering 52; with these should be included the series of Special Bulletins, four in number; (3) Proceedings of the United States National Museum, which were begun in 1878 and now include 26 volumes. These were intended primarily as a medium of publication for newly acquired facts in science, descriptions of new forms of animals and plants acquired by the museum, etc. A complete list of these publications with index to titles was issued as Bulletin No. 51, in 1902. The National Museum is supported by an annual appropriation from Congress.

UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY. See Naval Academy, United States.

UNITED STATES VETERAN NAVY. A patriotic society organized September 21, 1899. Eligible for membership are all persons who as commissioned officers or enlisted men were connected with any branch of the naval service of the United States during the Civil War or the Spanish-American War, or who in the future shall be engaged, as members of the navy, in war against an enemy of the United States. The society is organized into 11 squadrons, and has a total membership of about 3000.

UNITED WORKMEN, Ancient Order of. A fraternal benevolent order founded at Meadville, Pa., in 1868. The constitution provided that only white persons were eligible as members and that when the first 1000 should be enrolled an insurance feature should be added guaranteeing the payment of $500 on the death of the insured member. This amount was later increased to $2000. In 1895 the membership had reached 320,000 in the United States, and up to that date the order had paid to the beneficiaries of deceased members $70,000,000. The governing body of the order is the Supreme Lodge, which controls the dispensation of death benefits in States where there is no Grand Lodge. The subordinate lodges are controlled by the Grand or State Lodge. The payment of sick and funeral benefits is optional with each lodge.

UNITED ZION'S CHILDREN. See River Brethren.

UNITIES, Dramatic. Three classical qualities of a drama, the unities of time, place, and action. See Drama.

UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS. A phrase used to denote the coherence running through the mental experience of the individual. One element of this unity consists in the relation which one part of experience bears to another, and a second element in the specific reference of experiences to the self. (See Self; Self-Consciousness.) Systematic arrangement of knowledge corresponds to one phase of the unitariness in question. The reference of experience to the self may be numbered among the mental functions. The notion of self is a matter of growth and elaboration, and no single group of processes can be pointed to as forming the ‘I.’ There is, however, one set of processes which is peculiarly important, at least in the earlier stages of development, in ‘holding mind together,’ in maintaining the unity and permanence of consciousness; it is the complex of ‘bodily feelings,’ the organic sensations arising from nervous disturbances throughout the trunk. These sensations are relatively permanent and, at the same time vague, indefinite, and but little attended to. Their function in the ‘centralization of consciousness’ is attested by their neural substrate, which lies in the central part of the cortex and communicates with the ‘association centres,’ the motor apparatus, and the other sensory centres by an unusually large number of connective tracts. Consult: Ebbinghaus, Psychologie (Leip-