greatest progress being the textile. Whereas in 1864 the annual
production of all factories in Poland was valued at not more than
514 millions sterling, in 1875, when the workers numbered 27,000,
the output was estimated at even less; but in 1905 the value of the
industrial production reached 53 millions sterling. The principal
industrial centres are Lodz (textiles), Warsaw (sugar, leather and
miscellaneous) and Bendzin—Sosnowice—Dombrowa, in Piotrków
(mining). The sugar factories and refineries, situated chiefly in the
governments of Warsaw, Lublin and Plock, turn out approximately
one million tons of sugar in the year, the Polish sugar industry being
exceeded in Russia only by that of Kiev. Cotton is the principal
product of the mills at Lodz and Lask, both in Piotrków; though
woollen cloth, silk and linen are also produced. Tanning is centred
in Warsaw and Radom; Polish (i.e. Warsaw) boots and shoes have
a great reputation throughout the Russian empire. Other notable
branches of manufacturing industry, besides those already named,
are flour-mills, jute, hosiery, lace, paper, cement, hats, haberdashery,
machinery, tobacco, soap and candle factories, iron and steel works,
distilleries, breweries, potteries, vinegar, chocolate, varnish, furniture,
clothing and brick works. The cottage industries, such as pottery
and basket-making, formerly of considerable importance, are
gradually being replaced by the factory system of working.
Southern Poland possesses abundant minerals, especially in the Kielce mountains and the region adjacent to Prussian Silesia. The Devonian sandstones contain malachite ores near Kielce, and copper has been worked there since the 15th century, though the mines are now neglected. The brown iron ores of Kielce contain no less than 40% of iron. The zinc ores of the Olkusz district, more than 50 ft. thick, contain 8 to 14%, sometimes 25%, of zinc. The tin ores of Olkusz are still more important, and were extensively wrought as early as the 16th century. Brown iron ores, appearing in the neighbourhood of Bendzin as lenticular masses 55 ft. thick, and containing 25 to 33% of iron, accompany the zinc ores. Spherosiderites and brown iron ores are plentiful also in the “Keuper formation.” Sulphur is wrought in the district of Pińczow; the deposits, which contain 25% of sulphur, reach a thickness of 7 to 70 ft. Coal occurs in south-west Poland over an area of 200 sq. m. in the districts of Bendzin and Olkusz. Brown coal, or lignite, which appears in the Olkusz district in beds 3 to 7 ft. thick, has been worked out. The output of coal is 4,000,000 to 6,000,000 tons in the year, the number of hands employed being 18,000 to 20,000. The yield of lignite is less than 100,000 tons annually; of zinc 10,000 to 12,000 tons, of copper and lead small. The production of iron and steel increased from 13,000 tons in 1862 to about 500,000 tons in 1905. Of other mineral produce, chalk, exported from Lublin, a few quarries of marble and many of building stones, are worthy of notice. Mineral waters are used medicinally at Ciechocinek in Plock and Nalęczow in Lublin.
Communications.—The railways of Poland have an aggregate lengtth of 1300 m. A line of great importance, connecting Vienna with St Petersburg, crosses the country from south-west to north-east, passing through the mining district and through Warsaw, and sending a short branch to Lodz. Another important line, connecting Danzig with Odessa, crosses Poland from north-west to south-east. A branch line, parallel to this last, connects Skierniewice with Thorn and Bromberg; while a military railway connects the fortresses of Warsaw and Ivangorod with Brest-Litovsk, via Siedlce and Lukow. The line from Berlin to St Petersburg traverses the north of Suwalki for 54 m. between Eydtkunen and Kovno.
Commerce.—The general trade of Poland is merged in that of Russia, under which heading it is treated. With the extension of the railways the fairs have lost much of their importance, but their aggregate yearly returns are still estimated at £3,000,000. The principal fairs are held at Warsaw (wool, hemp, hops), Lęczyca in Kalisz, Skaryszew in Radom, Ciechanoviec in Lomza, and Lowicz in Warsaw.
Administration.—The entire administration of Poland is under the governor-general residing at Warsaw. He is at the same time the commander of the military forces of the “Warsaw military district.” Justice is represented by the gmina tribunals, which correspond to those of the mir in Russia; the justices of the peace (nominated by government); the syezd, or “court” of the justices of the peace; the district tribunals (assizes) in each government; and the Warsaw courts of appeal and cassation. Poland has had no separate budget since 1867; its income and expenditure are included in those of the empire.
After the insurrection of 1863 all towns with less than 2000 inhabitants were deprived of their municipal rights, and were included, under the designation of posads, in the gminas. Viewed with suspicion by the Russian government, the Polish towns received no self-government like the villages. The elective municipal councils, which enjoyed de jure very large rights, including that of maintaining their own police, although in reality they were under the rule of the nobility, were practically abolished, and Russian officials were nominated in their place and entrusted with all their rights. The municipal councils were, however, maintained to carry out the orders of the military chiefs. The new municipal law of 1870, first introduced at Warsaw, reduced the functions of the municipal council almost to nothing. The burgomaster is entirely dependent upon the police and the chief of the district, and has to discharge all sorts of functions (bailiff, policeman, &c.) which have nothing to do with municipal affairs. In all official communications the Russian language is obligatory, and a gradual elimination of Poles from the administration has been effected.
Defence.—Poland contains the first line of defence of the Russian empire on its western frontier. The marshy lowlands, covered with forests on the western bank of the Vistula, are a natural defence against an army advancing from the west, and they are strengthened by the fortresses on that river. The centre of these latter is Warsaw, with Novogeorgievsk, formerly Modlin, in the north, at the mouth of the Bug, and Ivangorod, formerly Demblin, in the south, at the mouth of the Wieprz. Novogeorgievsk is a strongly fortified camp which requires a garrison of 12,000 men, and may shelter an army of 50,000 men. The town of Sierock, at the confluence of the Bug and the Narew, is fortified to protect the rear of Novogeorgievsk. The Vistula line of fortresses labours, however, under the great disadvantage of being easily turned from the rear by armies advancing from East Prussia or Galicia. Brest-Litovsk, at the western issue from the marshes of the Pripet, the towns of Dubno, Lutsk and Bobruisk constitute the second line of defence.
Religion and Education.—The prevalent religion is the Roman Catholic, to which over 75% of the total population belong. Protestants (mostly Lutherans) amount to 6%, while about 5% are members of the Orthodox Greek Church. After the insurrection of 1863, measures were taken to reduce the numbers of the Roman Catholic clergy in Poland. One diocese (Podlasie) was abolished, and a new one established at Kielce, while several bishops were sent out of the country. Poland is now divided into four dioceses—Warsaw, Sedomierz, Lublin and Plock.
The educational institutions of Poland are represented by a university at Warsaw, with 1500 students. Teaching has been carried on in Russian since 1873. There are excellent technical schools, an institute of agriculture and forestry at Nowa-Alexandrya, and several seminaries for teachers. At Warsaw there is a good musical conservatory. The Jewish children are mostly sent to the Jewish schools, but they receive almost no instruction at all. Although there has been a decided increase in the number of both the primary and the secondary schools, nevertheless the school accommodation has in neither category of school kept pace with the growth of the population. The proportion of primary schools has in fact been steadily decreasing, and the applications for admission to the secondary schools and colleges are on the average twice as great as the number of vacancies. Al the same, Poland compares very favourably with Russia in the general level of education, for whereas those able to read and write in 1897 amounted in Poland to 30.5% of the population (only 9.3% in 1862), in Russia it was 19.8%. (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
POLARITY (Lat. polaris, polus, pole), having two poles or parts at which certain properties are the opposite to one another, as in a magnet the ends of which have opposite magnetic characters. The act of producing polarity is termed polarization. For electrolytic polarization see Battery and Electrolysis, and for optical see Polarization of Light below.
POLARIZATION OF LIGHT. A stream of light coming directly from a natural source has no relation to space except that concerned in its direction of propagation, round which its properties are alike on all sides. That this is not a necessary characteristic of light was discovered by Christian Huygens, who found that, whereas a stream of sunlight in traversing a rhomb of spar in any but one direction always gives rise to two streams of equal brightness, each of these emergent streams is divided by a second rhomb into two portions having a relative intensity dependent upon the position with respect to one another of the principal planes of the faces of entry into the rhombs—the planes through the axes of the crystals perpendicular to the refracting surfaces. In certain cases, indeed, one portion vanishes entirely: thus the stream ordinarily refracted in the first rhomb gives an ordinary or an extraordinary stream alone in the second, according as the principal planes are parallel or perpendicular, the reverse being the case with the extraordinary stream of the first rhomb. In intermediate cases the intensities of the two beams are proportional to the squares of the cosines of the angles that the principal plane of the second rhomb makes with the positions in which they have the greatest intensity.
