CHALK
363
CHAMBERS
wick. Said to have neither shoal or reef. Its fisheries (salmon, cod, herring, mackerel and lobster) are very important.
Chalk. Chalk is a variety of soft limestone, made up chiefly of the shells of microscopic sea-animals, called Forami-nifera, which in life swim at or near the surface of the water. After the death of the animals their shells sink to the bottom. A cubic inch of chalk has been estimated to contain more than 1,000,000 shells. With the shells of the Foraminifera shells of other animals are sometimes mingled. In certain periods of the past these minute shells have accumulated in such numbers as to make beds scores of feet in thickness over great areas of the sea-bottom. Some portions of the sea-bottom on which these chalk-beds accumulated have subsequently been converted into land by uplift, so that chalk-formations now occur on the continents. Oozes similar to chalk are now accumulating on some parts of the ocean-bed,. Contrary to the earlier belief, the chalk-formations known on the land were made in shallow, not in deep, water. The chalk of our country is found principally in the western plains, from Texas to Nebraska. In foreign countries it is found especially in France and England. Most of the known chalk was formed in the Cretaceous period (see GEOLOGY). In color it is usually white or whitish, and in composition it is chiefly carbonate of lime. Chalk is used extensively in the arts and to a slight extent in medicine. Various other substances, such as red chalk, yellow chalk, black chalk, French chalk, etc., which are soft and will make a mark, as on a blackboard, are erroneously called chalk.
Chalmers (ch&l'merz), Thomas, a Scottish divine, was born in Fife, Scotland, March 17, 1780. He was graduated at St. Andrews University, and began to preach when but 19 years old. What made him the earnest Christian leader he became was the careful study he made of Christ's divinity, when asked to write an article on the subject for an encyclopaedia. Then his great genius broke forth like the sunshine. Called to the Tron church, Glasgow, his oratory took the city by storm; visiting London, his preaching soon made him as well-known as at home. To wrestle with the ignorance and vice of Glasgow, he became minister of St. John's parish, with its 2,000 families of work-people. Here he set up day-schools and 40 or 50 Sunday-schools. The authorities left him the whole management of the poor in his parish, and in four years he reduced the amount expended on paupers from $7,000 to $1,120. This work ruined his health, and he left it to take a professorship in St. Andrews and, afterward, in Edinburgh. He felt very strongly on the questions that then divided tke. Scottish church, and, followed by 4^0
clergymen, he led a secession movement and founded what is known as the Free Church of Scotland. All his life he was a busy writer. His works extend to 34 volumes, mostly on theological, Christian and social subjects. As a pulpit orator he was unrivaled. Gentle, guileless and genial-hearted, he combined great brain-power and imagination with the shrewdest common sense. He died on May 31, 1847.
Cham'berlain, Rt. Hon. Joseph, an English statesman and M.P., for Birmingham West, was born in London, in July 1836, and educated at University College. He began his political career as an advanced
Radical, was thrice elected mayor of Birmingham and was in 1876 returned to Parliament for that city, a section of which he still represents. In early life he was an active member of the firm of Messrs. Nettle-fold & Co., screw manufacturers of Birmingham. In 1880 he became president of the board of trade in Mr. Gladstone's cabinet, and came into prominence as an able politician and forceful debater. Taking issue with his political chief on the subject of Irish home-rule, he in 1886 allied himself with the Conservatives. Though at first disliked by the latter, he has since become their leader in the house of commons, where he is regarded as a fierce fighter and hard hitter as well as a man of great force and ability. He took office in the Tory ministry of Lord Salisbury as colonial secretary, and did much to promote colonial enthusiasm for the war with the Boers in South Africa, to bring about Australian federation and in his masterful way in Parliament to defend the Tory government for the mistakes and shortcomings in the Boer War. He is an earnest advocate of municipal reform and of the betterment of the condition of the working classes. He is lord-rector of Glasgow University. In 1888 he married, as his third wife, Mary, daughter of W. C. Endicott, formerly United States secretary of war. Of late, advancing years and ill-health have withdrawn him from many of his accustomed activities.
Chambers (chdm'berz), William, was born on April 16, 1800, at Peebles, Scotland. The boy's schooling ceased in his thirteenth year, owing to his father's business troubles. After a five years' apprenticeship to an Edinburgh bookseller, lie sta,irte4 in tmsifte^l
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN
