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762

C H E V R E U L — CHIAPAS

the important part he played in bringing about the conclusion of the commercial treaty between France and Great Britain in 1860. Previously to this he had served, in 1855, upon the commission for organizing the Exhibition of 1855, and his services there led to his forming one of the French jury of awards in the London Exhibition of 1862. He was created a member of the Senate in 1860, and continued for some years to take an active part in its discussions. He retired from public life in 1870, but was unceasingly industrious with his pen. He became grand officer of the Legion of Honour in 1861, and during the later years of his life received from many quarters public recognition of his eminence as a political economist. He died at Montpellier, 28th November 1879. Of his works, many of which have been translated into English and other languages, some of the more important (in addition to those already mentioned) are: Cours d’economie politique (1842-50); Essais de politique industrielle (1843); De la baisse probable d'or (1859), which was translated into English by Cobden ; EExpedition du Mexique (1862); Introduction aux rapports du jury international (1868). (R. f. s.) Chevreul, Michel Eugene (1786-1889), French chemist, was born, on 31st August 1786, at Angers, where his father was a physician. At about the age of seventeen he went to Paris and entered Vauquelin’s chemical laboratory, afterwards becoming his assistant at the Natural History Museum in the Jardin des Plantes. In 1813 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the Lycee Charlemagne, and subsequently undertook the directorship of the famous Gobelins tapestry works, where he carried out his researches on colour contrasts. In 1826 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences, and in the same year was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, whose Copley medal he was awarded in 1857. He succeeded his master, Yauquelin, as professor of organic chemistry at the Natural History Museum in 1830, and thirty-three years later assumed its directorship also; this he relinquished in 1879, though he still retained his professorship. In 1886 the completion of his hundredth year was celebrated with public rejoicings; and after his death, which occurred in Paris on 9th April 1889, he was honoured with a public funeral. In 1901 a statue was erected to his memory in the museum with which he was connected for so many years. His scientific work covered a wide range, but his name is best known for the classical researches he carried out on animal fats, published in 1823 (Recherches sur les corps gras d’origine animale). These enabled him to elucidate the true nature of soap; he was also able to discover the composition of stearin and olein, and to isolate stearic and oleic acids, the names of which were invented by him. A practical consequence of these investigations was the manufacture of stearin candles, to the supersession of the old tallow dips. Chevreul was a determined enemy of charlatanism in every form, and one of his less-known books, inspired by the “spiritualistic” movement that arose in America about 1848 and spread to Europe a few years later, was devoted to an exposure of the folly of attaching any importance to the manifestations of the divining-rod and table-turning. Cheyenne, the largest and most important city of Wyoming, U.S.A., capital of Laramie county and of the state, situated near the southern boundary of the state, on the high plains near the east foot of the Laramie range, at an altitude of 6054 feet. It is on the main line of the Union Pacific railway, and is the terminus of branches of the Burlington and Missouri River, and the Union Pacific, Denver, and Gulf railways. The surrounding country is

a vast cattle range, of which Cheyenne is the shipping and supply point. Near Cheyenne is the large military post of Fort Russell. Population (1880), 3456; (1890), 11,690; (1900), 14,087, of whom 1691 were foreign-born and 295 were negroes. Chhatarpur, a native state of India, in the Bundelkhand agency. Area, 1178 square miles ; population (1891), 174,148; average density, 148 persons per square mile ; estimated revenue, Rs. 2,50,000. The chief, whose title is Raja, is a Rajput of the Puar clan, whose ancestor dispossessed the descendant of Chhatar Sal, the founder of Bundelkhand independence, towards the end of the 18th century. The town of Chhatarpur, which is named after Chhatar Sal, and contains his cenotaph, is situated in 24° 54' N. lat. and 79° 38' E. long., 70 miles by road S.W. of Banda. Population, 13,474. It has manufactures of paper and coarse cutlery, and a high school. ChhattlSg'ai'h,a division of the Central Provinces, India. The total feudatory area is 29,435 square miles; the population in 1891 was 2,160,511, giving an average density of 73 persons per square mile. In 1901 the population was 1,983,496, showing a decrease of 8 per cent., due to famine. Much of the soil is still covered with forest, but it includes fertile rice land. The British division of Chhattisgarh comprises the three districts of Raipur, Bilaspur, and Sambalpur. Its area is 25,013 square miles; in 1881 the population was 3,115,997, and in 1891 it was 3,544,998, giving an average density of 142 persons per square mile. In 1901 the population was 3,274,113, showing a decrease of 8 per cent. This tract has been opened out by the Bengal-Nagpur railway, which crosses it on its way from Nagpur city to Calcutta, Several of the feudatory states have been under British management, while the chiefs were being trained during their minority in the Rajkumar college at Raipur. The number of children at school has risen from 8121 in 1892-93 to 14,839 in 1896-97, being 4‘6 per cent, of the population of school-going age. Ch hind war a, a town and district of British India, in the Nerbudda division of the Central Provinces. The population of the town in 1881 was 8220, and in 1891 was 8973. The area of the district is 4630 square miles. In 1881 it had a population of 372,899, in 1891 of 407,494, showing an average density of 88 persons per square mile. In 1901 the population was 408,105. The land revenue and rates were Rs.3,34,441, the incidence of assessment being Rs.0:3:4 per acre; the cultivated area in 1897-98 was 691,697 acres, of which 8877 were irrigated from wells; the number of police was 283 ; the boys at school in 1896-97 numbered 3012, being 9'9 per cent, of the male population of school-going age, compared with 15’4 per cent, for the whole province; the registered death-rate in 1897 was 52‘30 per thousand. It has manufactures of cotton cloth and brass-ware. Coal exists, but cannot be worked profitably in the absence of a railway. Chiapas, a state of Mexico, bounded on the N. by the state of Tabasco, on the W. by those of Veracruz and Oaxaca, on the S. by the Pacific, and on the E. by the republic of Guatemala. Its area is 27,230 square miles. The population in 1879 was 205,362; 319,599 in 1895. The eastern plains have not yet been thoroughly explored. The principal industries are agriculture, fruit exploitation, salt extraction, and stock-raising. In 1897 it produced 2,465,100 kilograms of coffee, 10,126,998 kilograms of sugar-cane and products, 382,001 kilograms of tobacco, and 144,491 kilograms of cocoa. The state is divided politically into 11 departments and 101 municipalities.