when in 1831, on the recommendation of Lord Brougham, he received an annual pension of £300. His principal writings are papers in the "Transactions" of the royal societies of Edinburgh and London. Three of these were on the attractions of the spheroids, and contained a process of analysis which was acknowledged by Laplace to be superior to his own.

IVORY COAST. See GUINEA. IVY, a plant common in Europe, and introduced for purposes of ornament into America. It is known to botanists as the hedera helix, the specific name implying its habits of spirally as cending and firmly affixing its stems to trees and walls over which it spreads. The ivy is ranked among the ginseng family or araliacea, presenting in the style of flowers very much the same characters as the umbellifera, but having unlike them for fruit a 3 or several celled drupe. The fruit of the ivy is of a black color, unfit for the food of man, being bitter, aperient, and emetic, but it is eaten by birds; deer and sheep will devour its leaves, although they have a harsh and bitter taste. In medicine the ivy has been recommended as a sudorific, and in the plagues with which London was visited an infusion of the fruit in vinegar was thought to be serviceable. It was once supposed to prevent drunkenness and to dissipate the effects of wine; and it composed the crown of the poet and the bacchanalian fillet. There are several varieties of common ivy. The Irish or giant ivy was formerly regarded as a distinct species under the name of hedera vegeta; but it was probably nothing but a variety. This form occurs however in a wild condition in Madeira. Where the ivy grows in warmer districts, an exudation called ivy gum is to be found upon its older stems; this when burned throws out an agree able odor, and is sometimes substituted for gum Bassoral. Medicinally this ivy gum, or rather resin, is reputed to be a stimulant and emmenagogue. The cultivation of the ivy is easy, being raised from cuttings, which are to be planted in the autumn in sandy soil and shaded, or perhaps in pots or in frames where the young plants may have some protection from the cold of the first winter. They should have good roots before being planted out; and even then they should be supplied with rich soil and not again removed. In the United States a north wall seems most favorable, and in New England, in the neighborhood of Boston, protection by mats through the winter has been employed. Under favorable circumstances the growth of the ivy is very rapid; the bare rear walls of greenhouses, for instance, may be soon rendered ornamental and pleasant to the eye. From the sides of the stems numerous radicles proceed, which have a tendency to cling to the mortar or fix themselves to any interstices between the bricks. Sometimes it is found to be a good plan to train the main stems to a trellis fastened to the wall, or even to nail them to the masonry work after the manner of wall fruit trees. In England, the ivy is trained upon old

trees and grows to a great size, attaining the height of 100 feet, and having trunks of from 10 to 12 inches diameter, while some have been known of still greater size. The ivy in Great Britain only blossoms when it has reached its extremest growth, as when it has climbed to the summit of the tree to which it has affixed itself, and thus become exposed at last to the influence of the sun's direct rays. At this period its branches shorten themselves and become woody, forming large bushy heads; the leaves are no longer elegantly 5-lobed, but are entire in their outline, taking indeed a somewhat oval shape, The flowers are of a yellowish or greenish white color, appearing at the end of September and continuing through October and November; they are odoriferous, and attractive to the bees and to other insects. The berries, which suc ceed, continue to increase in size through the winter, ripening in April, and are then eagerly sought for by various kinds of birds. When fully ripe, these berries are succulent with a purplish juice, but they afterward become coriaceous, dry, and shrivelled into somewhat 5-angled shapes, harmonizing with the contour of the lower leaves. The seeds resemble swol len grains of wheat. Several beautiful varieties of the ivy are known to the florists, such as those with silver-striped and golden-striped leaves. The effect produced by the foliage of a golden-leaved variety is very superb, the new leaves in the spring of the year looking from a little distance like immense masses of yellow flowers. The use of the ivy for an ornamental vine in the drawing room or in the parlor is well known; but it can be equally used for the purpose of a summer screen in front of a balus trade or of a window, by planting some roots of it in large vases or in ornamental boxes, and then training the growing stems and branches upon wire frames; such plants, if necessary, can be removed to the cellar or some other place for protection from the winter's cold. The chief requisite to vigorous growth in the house seems to be a rich soil and abundant moisture; watering the growing plants frequently with weak liquid manures promotes luxuriance; the richness of the foliage may be preserved by taking care to wipe off any dust from its sur faces with a piece of dry woollen cloth. The geographical distribution of the ivy seems to be from the south of Sweden to the Mediter ranean sea, and from Ireland to Siberia. Ito curs in the north of Africa, in the west of Ass in the mountainous regions of India, in Japan, and in China; but is not found either in North or South America or in Australia. A creeper with smooth and succulent stems, and fleshy, light green leaves, without fibrous, aerial rootlets, known as German ivy, and much cultivated for beauty, is of another family, and belongs to the senecionidea, or groundsels.

IXION, a mythical Thessalian prince, king of the Lapithæ, and father of Pirithous. When Deioneus, whose daughter Dia he had espoused, demanded of him the customary bridal gifts,

Ixion treacherously invited him to a banquet, and then had him cast into a pit filled with fire. None would hold intercourse with the murderer, or purify him, till Jupiter at length took pity on him, performed the necessary rite, and made him his guest. But this kindness begot no corresponding gratitude in the breast of Ixion, who even presumed to make love to Juno, the wife of Jupiter. The latter made a phantom resembling Juno, by which Ixion became the progenitor of the centaurs. For his impiety he was chained by Mercury to a wheel which revolved perpetually in the air.

IXTLAVICAN, SANTA CATARINA DE, a large and remarkable Indian town in the department of Quesaltenango, Guatemala. Its inhabitants admit no whites among them except a priest, and retain most of their aboriginal customs.

IXTLILXOCHITL, FERNANDO DE ALVA, an Indian historian, descended in a direct line from the kings of Tezcuco in Mexico. He flourished in the beginning of the 16th century. He was interpreter of the native languages to the viceroys of Mexico, and assiduously collected the ancient MSS. and traditions of his country, which he embodied in a series of memoirs or "Relations." His most important work is a "History of the Chichemecas," which, with most of his other writings, was first printed from the MSS. in Mexico, by Lord Kingsborough ("Mexican Antiquities," vol. ix.). His works evince a disposition to over-estimate the power and policy of the Tezcucan kings, but are nevertheless interesting, and on the whole trustworthy.

IZALCO, a volcano in the republic of San Salvador, Central America, in lat. 13° 15′ N., long. 89° 44′ W. It is in many respects the most interesting volcano on the American continent, and the only one, with the exception of that of Jorullo in Mexico, which is known to have originated within the historical period. It is in a state of constant eruption, and, being visible from the sea for a long distance, is known among sailors as el faro del Salvador, the lighthouse of the Saviour. It stands near the base of the great extinct volcano of Santa Aña, on which, previously to 1770, was a vast cattle estate. Near the close of 1769 the dwellers on the estate were alarmed by subterranean noises accompanied by shocks of earthquake, which continued to increase in loudness and strength until Feb. 23, when the earth opened about half a mile from the dwellings on the estate, sending out lava, accompanied by smoke and fire. The inhabitants fled, but the herdsmen, who visited it daily, reported a constant increase in the smoke and flames, and that the ejection of lava was at times suspended, and vast quantities of ashes, cinders, and stones sent out instead, forming an increasing cone around the vent or crater. This process was continued for a long period, the cone gradually rising in height from the aggregations. Finally lava ceased to flow, and the accumulations have since been entirely from the ashes and stones thrown out from the crater, until the mountain

has reached a height of upward of 4,000 feet, or nearly that of Vesuvius. Its explosions occur with great regularity at intervals of from 10 to 20 minutes, with a noise like the discharge of a park of artillery, accompanied with a dense smoke and a cloud of ashes and stones. At night the cloud of smoke and ashes is lit up at the base with a lurid glow, like that which hovers over the mouth of a furnace, and is traversed in every direction by tongues of flame, supposed by the people of the adjacent country to be lightning. The red-hot stones rise above all like meteors, poise themselves for a moment against the sky, and then, falling, roll down the sides of the mountain in luminous tracks. Occasionally a little stream of lava, resembling molten iron, will rise over the edge of the crater, and exhibit in cooling a variety of shades and colors. Being in full view of the city of Sonsonate, it is a source of constant interest to the inhabitants. The people of the Indian town of Izalco, however, which stands within a mile of its base, look upon it with constant apprehension. The throes which attended its birth occasioned much damage to their public edifices. Izalco, although a separate mountain, must be regarded as a new vent for the gigantic volcano of Santa Aña (called anciently Izalco), which is the centre of a cluster similar to Izalco, and probably formed in like manner, but which are now extinct. Among them may be mentioned the volcanoes of San Marcillino, Naranjo, Tamasique, Aguila, San Juan, Launita, and Apaneca, the last named elevated 6,000 feet above the sea. Lately (Dec. 1859), the volcano has broken out with unwonted violence, and its eruptions have been accompanied with earthquakes, occasioning much damage throughout the adjacent country, but more particularly in the town of Izalco and city of Sonsonate.

IZALCO, a town of San Salvador, Central America, situated near the base of the volcano of the same name, 8 m. N. of the city of Sonsonate; pop. 5,000, chiefly Indians, many of whom still retain their native language, which is Mexican or Nahuatl. In former times it was the centre of the most important cacao-growing district in all America. It has many evidences of past importance. Its fine large church was nearly destroyed by the earthquake of Dec. 8, 1859. The country around it is remarkably fertile and well watered.

IZARD, a N. co. of Ark., drained by White river, which is here navigable; area, 864 sq. m.; pop. in 1854, 4,148, of whom 200 were slaves. It has an uneven surface and a fertile soil. The productions in 1854 were 239,017 bushels of Indian corn, 9,122 of wheat, 25,132 of oats, and 306 bales of cotton. In 1850 it had 3 churches, and 195 pupils attending public schools. Capital, Mount Olive.

İZARD, RALPH, an American statesman, born near Charleston, S. C., in 1742, died at South Bay, May 30, 1804. He was educated at Christ's college, Cambridge, England, and, inheriting an ample fortune, established himself in 1771 with

his family in London, whence the troubled condition of American politics induced him in 1774 to retire to the continent. He subsequently endeavored to impress upon the British ministry the ill-advised nature of the course they were pursuing, but without effect. In 1780 he returned to the United States, and found occasion to serve the country in various ways, having been instrumental in procuring the appointment of Gen. Greene to the command of the southern army, for which he received the thanks of the governor of South Carolina, and having once pledged his whole estate as security for funds needed in the purchase of ships of war in Europe. In 1781 he entered the continental congress, of which he remained a member until the peace; and upon the adoption of the federal constitution he was elected a U. S. senator from South Carolina. He was polished in manners, and as a legislator able and eloquent. Washington, of whose administration he was a faithful supporter, had the highest opinion of his public integrity, and in the senate he possessed the confidence of all parties. The "Correspondence of Ralph Izard from 1774 to 1804, with a Short

J.

the 10th letter of the English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and some other European alphabets, is a spurious and protean counterpart of the letter I. It is also called the consonant of that vowel, fulfilling that function of the original letter when it precedes another vowel. This, however, is the case only where it sounds like y in yet; for in some European languages it is either a superfetation of other legitimate letters, or the representative of sounds which have nothing in common with that of its prototype, I. It is in German miscalled jot (pronounced yot), in Spanish jota (pronounced hota), from ora. The following are the sounds with which it is uttered in various languages: 1. As consonant I in Italian, German, Danish, and other Teutonic languages, in Lusatian, Polish, Magyar, &c., where the Cechs use g, the Spaniards and English y, before vowels; for instance: Ital. ajuto or aiuto, aid; Germ. Joch, yoke, ja, yes; Lusat. and Pol. jeden (Cechic geden), one; Magyar jég, ice, &c. 2. The French and Portuguese J, a lingui-dental sibilant, the weak and sonorous counterpart of ch (Eng. sh), like the sound of 8 and z in the English words pleasure, grazier; produced by the utterance of the breath through the interstice between the tip of the tongue and the front part of the palate and the upper teeth, while the larynx resounds. This sound is also written with g before e and i in Portuguese and French. It is represented by zs or in Magyar; by in Polish, Cechic, Lusatian, &c. It is one of the Zend sibilants; it is written in Persian and Turkish with the Arabic 11th letter, marked with 2 additional points; in Russian

Memoir," was published by his daughter (Boston, 1844).—GEORGE, an American general, born in South Carolina in 1777, died at Little Rock, Ark., Nov. 22, 1828. He received a classical education, and after a tour in Europe was appointed in 1794 a lieutenant in the regiment of artillerists and engineers in the U.S. army. In 1803, being then a captain of artillery, he resigned his commission. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812 with Great Britain he was appointed colonel of the 2d artillery, and was successively promoted to be brigadier-general and major-general. At one period of the war he held chief command on the N. W. frontier. He was disbanded in 1815, and in 1825 became governor of Arkansas territory, in which office he died.

IZTACCIHUATL, a volcano of Mexico, 14736 feet above the sea, not far from that of Popocatapetl, in the neighborhood of the city of Puebla. It is sometimes called the Sierra Nevada, its top being always covered with snow. Its name is aboriginal Mexican, from iztae, white, and cihuatl, woman. It has not been active since the conquest.

with the 7th letter, živiete; with the 22d Amharic, 10th Armenian, 19th Georgian, &c. There is no such sound in Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Ethiopian, Irish, German, and many other languages. 3. The English J represents the preceding sound intimately combined with that of d, as if dj were written in French. Its organic formation is composed of the utter ance of these 2 sounds. This compound sound is also written in English with g before e, i, and y, in Italian with g before e and i. It is written in the Devanagari with the 3d palatal, in Arabic with the 5th letter, in Amharic with the 25th, in Armenian with the 27th, in Georgian with the 36th, &c. This sound is unknown in the ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Ethiopic, and Irish, as well as in Magyar, German, and some other modern languages. 4. In Spanish it is sounded like the German ch, as joven (pron. hoven), young, &c., and is equivalent to g before e and i, and to a in some cases, so that Mexico is also written Mejico and Megico. Owing to this intricate variety of representation, as well as to the presence or absence of certain sounds in different tongues, as graphically noted by the letter in question, or by its equivalents, a great deal of needless perplexity arises in speaking and writing correctly the same original element. Thus we have 8 letters of the English alphabet employed to represent J, viz. : i, j, y, g, h, d, s, 2; and, as g and h are congeners of k or e, and as the English sometimes employs and s in place of the etymic c (as in pleasure, crozier, from Lat. placere, crux, crucis), 10 letters are misapplied in rendering the elementary I.—The use

of the tailed or elongated J was introduced by Dutch printers, and was long called I Hollandais by French printers. It bears the same relation to I as the new W does to V.

JABIRU, a large wading bird of the stork family, found in South America and Africa, of the genus mycteria (Linn.). The bill is about a foot and a half long, and strong, resembling that of the stork except that it is bent a little upward at the point. It is a large bird, measuring between 5 and 6 feet in length; the wings are long and ample, with the 2d and 3d quills longest; tail moderate and broad; tarsi much longer than the middle toe, and covered with reticulated scales; the toes are long, united at their bases, with most of the hind toe resting on the ground. Only 2 species are described by Gray, of which the best known is the American jabiru (M. Americana, Linn.); in this the bill is black, the head and about two thirds of the neck bare and blackish, and the lower part of the neck bright red; there are a few white feathers on the hind_head, and the rest of the plumage is white. It inhabits Brazil and Guiana, frequenting swamps, seeking for fish and reptiles; it rises slowly to a great height, supporting itself for a very long time. The nest is made on lofty trees, and the eggs are generally 2; the young are fed with fish; the flesh of the young is tender and tolerably good eating. The African species (M. Senegalensis, Shaw) is an equally large bird, of a generally white color, with head, neck, and scapulars black; it has 2 pendent wattles at the base of the bill.

JABLONSKI, Paul Ernst, a German orientalist, born in Berlin in 1693, died in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Sept. 13, 1757. Having completed his education with the aid of the government, which supplied him with the means of travelling abroad, he was appointed pastor of the Protestant church of Liebenberg, and subsequently professor of theology at the university of Frankfort, and head minister of the Calvinistic church in that city. He published no fewer than 50 different works on oriental philology, history, divinity, and antiquities, the merits of which are still highly appreciated by competent critics. The most important of these is his Pantheon Egyptiorum, sive de Diis eorum Commentarius, cum Prolegomenis de Religione et Theologia Egyptiorum (Frankfort, 1750-'52).

JACAMAR, a diurnal fissirostral bird of the kingfisher family, and sub-family galbulina, comprising the 2 genera galbula (Möhr.) and jacamerops (Cuv.). The plumage is brilliant, green predominating, and the habitat is tropical South America and some of the West Indian islands. In the genus galbula the bill is long, slender, straight, pointed, and 4-sided; the wings are moderate and rounded, with the 4th quill longest; the tail elongated and graduated; tarsi very short, slender, and nearly covered with feathers; the toes 2 before and 2 behind, the inner hind one very small (in some species wanting), and the outer anterior one the longest. About 10 species are. described, inhabiting the VOL. IX.-43

moist forests, and leading a solitary life; they perch on naked branches, whence they dart in pursuit of insects, in the manner of the beeeaters; some species are said to feed on fish and their fry. The nest is a hole in a tree or a river bank, with a small entrance, and the eggs are usually 3 in number. The green jacamar (G. viridis, Lath.) is about the size of a lark, of a brilliant glossy green, with white chin and rufous abdomen; the paradise jacamar ( G. paradisea, Linn.), with the same metallic green color, has a violet-brown head, and white throat, front neck, and under wing coverts. In jacamerops the bill is shorter, broader, and more curved, more like that of the bee-eaters. The species are few, inhabiting tropical South America, with habits similar to those of the preceding genus. The great jacamar (J. grandis, Gmel.) is about 11 inches long, of a coppery green above, and beneath ferruginous.

JACANA, a wading bird of the family pala medeida, and sub-family parrina, of which the principal genus is parra (Linn.), found in the warmer parts of America, Asia, and Africa The bill is long, slender, straight at the base, and vaulted at the tip; the base of the bill has a large, naked, dilated plate, standing up in front of the forehead; wings long, with the 3d quill the longest; tail very short, partly concealed by the coverts; tarsi long, naked, and slender, with transverse scales. The most remarkable peculiarity is the great length of the toes, 4 in number, entirely separated, and all armed with long, straight, and sharp claws; that of the hind toe in the common species is so acute and long as to obtain for the bird the name of "surgeon;" in some the naked plates about the bill descend toward the neck. These birds frequent marshes, sides of rivers, and ponds, in pairs or in small flocks; they are shy, when alarmed diving or skulking among the reeds; by the length of their toes they are enabled to walk upon the floating leaves of water plants, in search of aquatic insects, buds, and seeds; they are quarrelsome and noisy, striking each other with their spurred wings; the flight is rapid, straight, and not very ele vated; they wade into the water as far as the knees, but do not swim, as their feet are not webbed; they are monogamous, the females making a nest among the reeds, and depositing 4 or 5 eggs. More than a dozen species are described, of which the best known are the chestnut jacana (P. jacana, Linn.), of a black color with a red mantle, with the primaries green, a native of South America; the Indian jacana (P. Indica, Lath.), of a blackish color, with blue and violet reflections, bronzed green mantle, rump and tail sanguine red, anterior quills green, and a white stripe behind the eye; and the African jacana (P. Africana, Gmel.), with wings unarmed, and forehead not carunculated and greenish black. They are about 10 inches long. The genus hydrophasianus (Wagl.) has very long wings, with the shafts of the first 3 quills prolonged, and the ends of the 4th to

the 7th lengthened, narrowed, and falcated; the tail narrowed, with the 4 central feathers much prolonged and the lateral ones short and graduated; the base of the bill and head entirely covered with feathers. To this genus belongs the Chinese jacana (H. Sinensis, Gmel.), the only species described by Gray; the habits are the same as in the preceding genus. The general color is brown, with the head, throat, front neck, and wing coverts white; hind neck with golden silky plumes; the long tail feathers black.

JACKAL, a species of wild dog, living in troops in the warmer parts of Asia and Africa, generally placed in the genus canis of authors, but raised to a genus of its own (sacalius) by Hamilton Smith. These animals live under great varieties of climate, in the moist jungles of Asia, the dry deserts of northern Africa, in forest and plain, and wherever the warmth is sufficient; like other dogs, they are voracious, feeding with avidity even on decomposing matter, and in this way, with the hyæna and vulture, are of considerable advantage to man in hot climates. They are generally harmless, but make night hideous by their dismal howlings; they dwell in burrows which they excavate themselves, and in caves; they are said to disinter dead bodies, and occasionally, when pressed by hunger, to attack man. Though exceedingly timid, they are easily tamed, and rarely snarl at the hand which caresses them; this character gives great probability to the opinion that the jackal has mingled its blood in many of the races of our domestic dogs, though perhaps not to the assertion of Pallas that it is the chief original of this useful animal. The organization of the jackal does not differ from that of the dog, and the habits of digging, living, and hunting in troops, and feeding on carcasses, are the same in both in the wild state; the former, at least in some of the species, possesses a disagreeable odor from which the latter is free. The pupil of the eye is round, as in the diurnal canines; the nostrils open on the end of the muzzle; the ears are pointed, with a tubercle on the external edge; the tongue is very soft, and the upper lip and sides of face provided with bristly whiskers; the feet are 4-toed, with a rudiment of a 5th on the anterior on the inner side, and the nails are short and thick; the dentition, habits, movements, and instincts are those of the dogs; the hair is thick, the tail being nearly as bushy as that of a fox. The jackal is often seen in attendance on the lion, and has been supposed to run down his prey for the king of beasts, contented with a small share for himself; hence the name has been applied to persons who voluntarily perform mean services for the rich and great, satisfied with the occasional and contemptuous notice vouchsafed to their cringing officiousness; but the jackal is maligned, as indeed perhaps are its human imitators, for it follows for the sake of the pickings and stealings in the train of his feline majesty; and perhaps the latter is often led to his prey by the howlings of a troop of jackals hunting

for themselves. The common jackal or jungle koola of India (canis aureus, Linn.) is of the size of a small dog, reddish gray above, darkest on the back, and lighter beneath; the tail is bushy and dark at the end. It inhabits the warmer parts of S. Asia, N. Africa, and S. E. Europe. The African jackal or dieb (C. anthus, F. Cuv.) is of a yellowish gray above, lighter beneath; the tail yellow, with a longitudinal black line at the base, and some black hairs at the tip. It is found in Egypt, Nubia, Senegal, and other parts of Africa. The black-backed jackal (C. mesomelas, Gmel.), from the Cape of Good Hope, is fulvous brown above, with a large triangular patch of black broad at the shoulders and ending in a point near the tail; there are a few white spots, the flanks are reddish, and the under parts white; the tail is longer than in other species, reaching nearly to the ground, and the ears are considerably larger. The average height of the jackal is about 15 inches, the length of the body 14 inches, and of the tail about 10 inches. The first two species have been known to breed together, producing 5 young after a gestation of about 60 days; and they will also intermix with domesticated dogs; in fact the agency of the jackal in the production of the southern dogs can no more be doubted than that of the wolf in the case of the northern, and the crossings of these jackal dogs and wolf dogs, either by accident or design would explain satisfactorily a great number of our domestic varieties. (See Dog.)

JACKDAW, a European conirostral bird of the crow family, and genus corvus ( C. monedula, Linn.). The form is more compact and grace ful than that of any other British corvine bird; of about the size of the domestic pigeon, with large head, short neck, ovate body, and mod erate wings, tail, and feet; the bill is shorter than the head, stout and conical, slightly arched, and sharp-edged; the gape almost straight the plumage full and soft; the tail straight, of 12 broad, rounded feathers; claws arched and strong. The length is about 15 inches, the bill 11, and the alar extent 30 inches; the female is slightly smaller. The bill and feet are black, irides grayish white, upper and fore part of the head black with bluish purple reflections; gray; ish black about the eyes and throat; back and sides of neck bluish gray; rest of plumage grayish black, approaching leaden gray on the under parts; wings and tail black, the latter with the primaries glossed with green, and the secondaries with purple. In rare instances, individuals have been found variegated with white. It is a very active, impertinent, playful, and loquacious bird, altogether the most agreeable and sociable of the

crows.

The flight is rapid, very irregular, and generally accompanied with frequent cries. It dwells in ruined buildings, towers, steeples, and retreats in high rocks, and is often found in the heart of large cities; it nestles in the same places, and occasionally in chimneys, making a large nest, and laying about 5 bluish white e with brown or pale purple spots at the larger